Lily Potter and the Secret of Pellinore
by Lela-of-Bast
Summary: Chronicles the first year of Lily Potter as she struggles to find her place in Pellinore: the new house at Hogwarts.
1. Off to Hogwarts

Lily Potter and the Secret of Pellinore

Chapter One: Off to Hogwarts

Lily hung out the window as the train pulled away from the station. She waved happily at her mother and father. They were standing hand-in-hand on Platform 9 ¾ , waving and rapidly shrinking in the distance.

"C'mon, Lil," said James, her oldest brother. He had already stowed her trunk in a compartment for her. She remembered Al's first day of school, and the way that James had teased him about his Sorting. James could be merciless when he picked on Albus, but his attitude towards Lily was always cheerful, gentle and ever watchful. Both of her brothers were overprotective of her, and Lily thought vaguely that she would have the chance to break them of that habit now that she was going to school.

As Lily thought about her brothers, she noticed a commotion in the hall. A small, blond girl was rammed into from behind, and the force sent her jostling into a melancholy looking boy. He wore baggy, paint-stained jeans, and his shirt looked like he had torn the sleeves off of it himself. To finish off the look, he had his brown hair spiked with blue tips. A strap on the girl's messenger bag had broken, scattering books all over the passageway. The worst part was seeing the girl reach blindly with one hand for the glasses that were lost among the crowd.

"Watch were you're going, Nerd!" the boy said sternly, stepping towards her. Almost instantly, a Prefect appeared, standing between the boy and at the blond girl's side until the boy disappeared into a compartment. Then the Prefect helped her find her glasses and pick up her books.

James yanked one of Lily's pigtails, recapturing her attention and she followed him to a compartment. Albus was already there, talking with Hugo. Rose had her nose buried in a book.

"Whatcha reading?" Lily asked, plopping into the seat beside her. Without taking her eyes off the page, Rose lifted the book so that Lily could see the title. _Hogwarts, A History_.

"Mum suggested it," Rose mumbled. Lily smiled. Her Aunt Hermione had also recommended the book to her.

"Sounds interesting," she said as her brothers settled in across from her. As Albus leaned back in his seat, Lily heard a high-pitched squeal.

"What's that?" Hugo asked.

"Al! You nearly sat on Nelson!" Lily cried. She rescued her small pet from between her brothers.

"I didn't know you had a pygmy puff," Rose said, admiring the little purple fluffy ball.

"Mum brought him home for me when she got my school stuff," Lily said happily. "His name is Nelson."

"How did he get out of his cage?" James bent over, poking at the little cage.

"The door is loose,' Lily said. "If it jiggles at all it just pops open."

"I can fix it," Hugo said, getting down on the ground with the cage. He had inherited his grandfather's love of tinkering, and was good at taking things apart and putting them back together. He pulled out his Muggle screwdriver set and began to tighten the bolts on the cage's door.

The other cousins fell into a content silence, Lily petting the pygmy puff that perched on her lap. He was very soothing.

"Where's the loo?" she asked after a while. Rose, once again failing to take her eyes off of her book, gave Lily directions.

On her way back, Lily noticed that there was a girl sitting on the floor in the corridor. As she drew closer, she realized that it was the same girl that she had seen earlier. She was writing in a plain black book with a Muggle ballpoint pen. She ignored the few students who passed by, but looked up when she felt Lily staring. She smiled thinly and then turned her face back to her book. Her hand hadn't stopped moving the pen.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked, sitting down beside the blond girl.

"Writing. I write down everything. It's how I make memories."

"That's neat. I used to take pictures, but my brother broke my camera last year. He wanted to take pictures while he rode my dad's hippogriff, but Buckbeak is temperamental and he threw my brother into a pond."

"What does a hippogriff look like?" the girl asked. "I've never seen one."

"It's like a horse with an eagle's head and talons. If you want, I'll ask my mum to send me a picture of Buckbeak so you can see him. He's really cool, even if he is a little grumpy about being old."

"I would like that."

Lily smiled and introduced herself. She had long since gotten used to the fuss people made where her father was concerned. It surprised Lily that the girl didn't even flinch when she heard the word "Potter." Instead she just smiled and extended her hand.

"My name is Emmaline Winkleworth. You can call me Emma, if you want." As Lily reached over to shake the other girl's hand, Emma noticed the puff of purple fur that hid behind Lily's dark tresses.

"What is that?" Emmaline asked.

"Oh that's just Nelson, my pygmy puff," Lily said proudly. "My Uncle George breeds them in his shop in Diagon Alley."

"It's so pretty," Emmaline breathed, fingers brushing Nelson's soft fur.

"Do you have any pets?" Lily asked.

"Just Mr. Darcy," Emmaline said, pointing towards her messenger bag. It was filled to the busting with books, but a tiny kitten was curled up on top of it as though the books were pygmy puff hair. The cat was a little ball of shiny black fur, though pure white covered all four paws and made a nearly perfect circle on his forehead.

"He's so cute!" Lily began. "I wanted to get a cat too, but dad said-"

Lily didn't get the chance to tell Emma what her dad had said. A student stood over them. Lily looked up and recognized her pretty cousin, Dominique, her "Head Girl" badge pinned to her sweater.

"Lily, you and your friend can't sit in the hallway; it's a tripping hazard." Without thinking about it, Dominique flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder. "Isn't there room with your brothers? Or have they driven you nuts already?"

Lily grinned, rising. "Actually, I was just about to ask Emma if she would like to join us," she said, looking back down at her new friend. "Won't you?"

"Sure," Emmaline agreed, gently passing Mr. Darcy to Lily. She jammed her diary into the already over-full bag of books. The strap that had earlier broken was now knotted together, but it was frayed and would not last much longer.

"That's settled then," Dominique said. Two third-year boys ran past. "Stop running in the hall!" the Head Girl called after them. They ignored her. She chased after them, walking quickly. She called "Au revoir," over her shoulder to Lily and Emmaline.

"Who was that?" Emmaline asked as they made their way back to the Potter-Weasley compartment.

"My cousin. I have six of them at Hogwarts this year. That one was Dominique. She's Head Girl. Her dad was Head Boy when he went to school here."

"I like her," Emmaline said, glancing back towards the older girl. Dominique had caught the two boys and had them both standing with their backs against the wall as she talked at them, probably assigning detentions. The boys looked at her admiringly.

"Everyone likes her," Lily said, opening the compartment door. "She's part veela."

Emmaline looked like she was about to ask was a veela was, but she was cut off by James's outburst.

"There you are, Lil. What took you so long? We'd thought you fell in. 'ello, who's this?" Lily faced the people in the compartment.

"Emmaline Winkleworth, these are my brothers, James and Albus. Mum says to ignore most of what comes out of James's mouth. And over here are Rose and Hugo, more cousins."

"It's nice to meet you," Emmaline said shyly. Hugo was still sitting on the floor, working on Nelson's cage. The pygmy puff floated down off of Lily's shoulder when he saw his home. Hugo tightened one last bolt then set down his screwdriver and pressed a button. The cage door swung open neatly.

"Aha!" Hugo exclaimed, startling Emmaline's cat. His needle-sharp claws dug into Lily's arm as he struggled to find safety. James shut the compartment door.

"Here, set 'em on the floor," he told his sister. Lily obeyed and everyone leaned closer to watch the cat explore the new territory.

"What's his name?" Albus asked.

"Mr. Darcy," Emmaline said quietly. She was still standing awkwardly by the door, so Lily grabbed her sleeve and pulled her to the bench next to Rose. "Usually I just call him Darcy."

"Like in _Pride and Prejudice_?" Rose asked. Emmaline nodded.

"It's my favorite book."

"I like it too," the older girl added. As the children watched, Mr. Darcy sneaked towards Albus's foot. When the kitten got close, Al twitched his toes ever-so-slightly and the kitten jumped straight into the air, all four paws leaving the ground at the same time. The fur on his back and tail stood on end.

After a stunned moment, Darcy spotted Nelson. The cat's eyes focused and he crouched close to the ground. His rump shook from side to side as he wound up. An instant later he leaped forward, landing on the unsuspecting pygmy puff.

Nelson let out a shrill cry of terror. The cat sprang away, even more surprised than he had been by Al's foot. The children all laughed.

"There now," Rose said, patting the kitten. Lily retrieved her pygmy puff and petted him quiet.

"Sorry," Emmaline said. 'I hope Darcy didn't hurt him."

"Nah, he's too poofy to get hurt," James said. Lily stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"He's fine, Emma," she told her new friend.

"To be fair, Darce has a toy that looks just like Nelson," Emmaline said, rummaging in a side pocket of her bag. She pulled out an oval of plastic covered in fake fur. It had felt ears, a button nose, and a length of red yarn for a tail. When Emma shook the mouse it rattled. Darcy immediately turned his head towards the sound. He caught the mouse swiftly and then sent it flying across the floor in a different direction. The next time he caught it he flipped onto his side, rabbit-kicking the mouse with his back feet.

"Ratchet can't watch this," Hugo said, turning his rat's cage away.

A moment later, a loud rattling sound filled the corridor. "Lunch!" Albus said happily. He opened the door and the witch pushing the cart stuck her head into the compartment.

"Something from the trolley, dears," she asked. Albus bought a little bit of everything , passing snack after snack to his brother. There were Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, and so much else. Emmaline's eyes grew wide as she took it all in.

"Thank you," Rose called as the witch continued her route. James spilled the whole lot onto the floor and the children began to rummage through it.

"Want a Chocolate Frog, Emma?" Lily asked, selecting one for herself. She tore open the package, caught the frog as it leaped out, and popped it into her mouth.

"Ok," Emmaline said uncertainly. She copied Lily's strategy in catching the snack, then looked down at the Famous Witches and Wizards card. Emmaline's eyebrows furrowed as she read studied the moving picture on the card.

"Mine's Cliodna," Lily told her. "Who'd you get?"

"What did you say your last name was?"

"Potter," Lily said, tickling Nelson. Hugo grinned.

"You got Uncle Harry," he said. "What's his card say? I forget."

_HARRY POTTER_

_CURRENTLY HEAD OF AUROR'S OFFICE_

_Harry Potter first wowed the wizarding world at the age of one, when he survived a Killing Curse. His first meeting with the Dark Lord Voldemort left him with his famous scar. He was raised by Muggle relatives until he began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A Quidditch enthusiast, Potter became the youngest Seeker of his century, and went on to become the team's captain. In his fourth year, Potter won the Triwizard Tournament, though the competition ended in tragedy with the death of Cedric Diggory and the return of Lord Voldemort. During the Second Wizarding War, Potter, aided by Albus Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, tracked down the seven Horcruxes that were the key to the Dark Lord's immortality. The war culminated in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which Potter defeated Voldemort._

_After the war, Harry Potter married his sixth-year-sweetheart, Ginerva Weasley. The couple lives in London with their three children: James, Albus, and Lily._

"I didn't know your dad was famous," Emmaline said, setting down the card. Lily looked up at her brothers.

"Yeah, Dad's quite accomplished," James said at last. "We're used to it. And we're _very _proud of him."

James finished off his sentence by shoving an entire Pumpkin Pastie into his mouth all at once. He was on his third.

"As if you didn't eat twelve pancakes and five eggs this morning," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "My brothers are such pigs."

"They get that from the Weasley side of the family," Rose said, eyeing her brother. Hugo was washing down a package of Licorice Wands with a paint-flavored Every Flavor Bean.

The boys spent the better part of an hour mixing flavors of beans to come up with the most disgusting mix. Rose finally declared Al the winner when he mixed onion, diesel, cough medicine, grass, tartar sauce, liver, Worcestershire sauce, and strawberry mousse.

"You win, now talk about something else please, so that a person can read without getting queasy," Rose said, a touch of irritation in her voice.

"So tell me about Quidditch," Emma said. The boy's eyes lit up, and they began to animatedly explain the sport.

"Our mum played for the Holyhead Harpies until she had James," Lily said. "Then she became the senior Quidditch correspondent for the _Daily Prophet_.

"My mother is a journalist," Emmaline said. Lily listened, intrigued; it was the first time the other girl had volunteered personal information. "And my father is a photographer. They met on assignment and they've been together ever since."

"Are either of them wizards?" Rose asked politely. Emma shook her head hesitantly, as if she didn't know how her new wizard friends would react.

"We were shocked when I got my Hogwarts letter, because my whole family is Muggle," she said.

"That's cool," Hugo said.

"You mean there are other students who have Muggle parents?"

"Yeah," said Al. "Loads of them."

"Pure-blood wizard families have to intermarry with Muggles to keep their lines from dying out," Rose said. "Mixed-blood students have become more the rule than the exception. Not that it really matters; we're all equally magical."

"If anyone gives you any trouble about it, I'll set them straight," James said.

"That's right," Rose said teasingly. "Keep the big, strong fourth-year on your side."

"Nosy Rosie," he retorted. James often used this nickname for his cousin.

The children all laughed again. Their merriment, combined with Lily's joy at making a new friend, made the rest of the trip fly by. Finally Dominique came back and announced that it was time to change into school robes. The children obliged, then followed the crowd out into the hall as the train rolled to a stop.

Grabbing Emmaline's hand to keep from getting separated, Lily followed her brothers out onto the platform.

"Firs' years to me!" bellowed a large, shaggy looking man. Emmaline stopped in her tracks, staring up at the man.

"Rubeus Hagrid. Half-giant, all love," James said, clapping Emmaline on the back. "He's Hogwarts's groundskeeper and a good friend to our whole family."

"'Ello James, Albus, Lily," Hagrid said as they drew near. "It's good to see you." James shook the man's large hand while Lily and Al grinned up at him. "Will you bunch come for tea next weekend?"

"I'd love to, Hagrid," Lily answered. A few moments later, her brothers went to find their own friends, and Lily and Emma watched the other first years assemble near Hagrid. Lily was dismayed to see that the boy who had bullied Emmaline was in their year. One young witch pulled out a small hand-mirror, which she gazed in as she reapplied her lip gloss and arranged her raven-black hair. Lily also found her good friend, Bailey Longbottom. Both of Bailey's parents taught at Hogwarts, and they lived on the grounds with their four children. Bailey had spent the summer with her Great-grandmother, then boarded the Hogwarts Express so that she would arrive with the other first years. Now she joined Lily and Emmaline to wait.

It took the better part of twenty minutes, but Hagrid finally deemed that the gaggle was complete. He led the group down a winding path to the lake, where he began to put the children on boats in groups of four. However, several students were left over when he had finished.

"More'n usual this year," Hagrid said to himself. He began rearranging the students in groups of fives. Lily, Emmaline, and Bailey ended up sharing a boat with two other girls named Tiffany Hilm and Catherine Russo.

Lily enjoyed the ride across the lake. She had heard countless stories about the Sorting ceremony she was about to undergo. All of her year-mates seemed extremely nervous. Lily wasn't. All of her family was in Gryffindor. She would be too.

Instead of worrying, Lily watched her surroundings. It was warm for a night in September, and the sun was just going down, creating a lovely backdrop for the castle. After a while, the boats sailed through a dark tunnel that ran beneath the castle to an underground dock.

After helping the students disembark, Hagrid made sure that everyone was ready, and then knocked three times on the huge Oak door of the castle. It opened slowly.

In the frame of the door, the professor looked about as big as an ant. He bustled away on his short little legs, and the students followed him into a small, empty chamber.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," he said when they were all quiet. "I am Professor Flitwick. The Sorting ceremony will begin shortly. While you are at Hogwarts, we will all be friends, but your house will be your family." He went on to explain how the houses worked, and told the students a little bit about each house.

He continued speaking until a sharp knock interrupted him. He conferred briefly to the person outside, then turned back to the students. "Shall we?" he said, leading them out of the room in two lines. They stopped outside the doors to the Grand Hall. Emmaline was to Lily's left. She looked pale.

"I hope we're together," Emma whispered as Professor Flitwick walked among them, putting them in alphabetical order. Lily grinned at her friend, crossed her fingers, and waited to be led into the Grand Hall.

The room was as amazing as Lily had been told. The high ceilings really did show a clear starry night, and all of the floating candles added to the effect. Many of Lily's year-mates craned their necks to gape at the spectacle.

As they walked down the aisle between the two center tables, Lily searched for her brothers. Of course they were at the Gryffindor table, each seated with their own friends. James whooped when she passed, and Albus winked. Grinning, Lily took her place in a line along the front of the room.

Professor Flitwick was carrying a roll of parchment that was longer than he was tall. He stood in front of the first years.

"When I call your name, sit on the stool and put on the hat," he said with a kind smile. "Barkeley, Kyle!"

A short, plump boy strode forward. He sat down the on the stool and the hat was barely on his head for a moment when it called out "RAVENCLAW!"

The table that was second from the left cheered as Kyle ran over to join them.

"Cade, Toby!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. The table to the far-left burst out in cheers. Lily noticed amusedly that her brothers were each trying to be louder than the other.

Twins Ellen and Nick Cornwell were sorted to Slytherin and Gryffindor, respectively. Then Gwendolyn and Jason Dorlington, another set of twins, were put together in Hufflepuff. The ceremony continued through the alphabet, until Norah Poplar went to Hufflepuff. Then-

"Potter, Lily."

Lily climbed onto the stool and Professor Flitwick stood on the very tips of his toes to place the Sorting Hat on her head.

_Oh yes, another Potter,_ Lily squeaked in surprise when she heard the hat's voice. In all the stories, no one had mentioned that it spoke to each student. _You, my dear, will be as brave, loyal, and true as your father, brothers, and the entire Weasley Clan. I also sense mischief in you, and an awakening secret in your heritage. Part of me wants to place you with your family in Gryffindor, but you will do better elsewhere._

"Elsewhere?" Lily whispered. "Not Slytherin."

"_No, not Slytherin. There is much of your father in you. However, Gryffindor is not the proper House, nor is Hufflepuff, nor is Ravenclaw. You are Pellinore's Heir. You may be unhappy for a time, but you will be honored through history. A new House begins with you._

"PELLINORE!" the hat finally bellowed.


	2. A New House

**Lily Potter and the Secret of Pellinore  
Chapter Two: A New House**

The hall was suddenly quiet. Every eye was on Lily. The blood drained from her face and she felt cold and exposed. From the Gryffindor table, James and Albus looked at her with pity and confusion. James stood, presumably to comfort her, but Rose stopped him with a hand on his arm. She pointed towards the Headmistress.

Professor McGonagall was descending from the podium where she had been watching the Sorting. She lifted the hat off of Lily's head and gently ushered the girl aside. Then McGonagall set the hat on the freshly vacated stool.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked it, voice shrill and stern. Lily shuddered. Her Uncle Ron had warned all of the kids not to irritate the Headmistress.

Instead of answering, the Sorting Hat broke out into song.

"_When the Founders left their special school  
They made in me a brand new tool-  
__A hat with a brain of its very own,  
To guide each student to their proper home.  
Wisely sorting through each mind  
Their best fit I search to find._

"_Unknown to many there was one,  
Whose waiting now at last is done.  
I felt the stirring this very year,  
That the time for the fifth house is here.  
A house that will live on ever more,  
That of the fair Lady, Petranne Pellinore._

"_Pellinore's family owned the land  
Where Hogwarts castle now does stand.  
Around the lake and over the hill  
The lady roamed, but only until  
She offered it to the founders four,  
Because of her love for Gryffindor._

"_And he, in turn, promised unto her  
To choose the students she did prefer  
Tricks and puzzles did she love,  
She wanted to find others thereof.  
But Ravenclaw and Slytherin  
Refused to let the lady in_

"_A glimpse of silver, tarnished and old,  
Thin spun chains of purest gold,  
A bronze coin from the lady's purse,  
And a feather used, but none the worse-  
These are the clues imparted to you  
Who Pellinore left her riddles to."_

When it finished its song, the hat said, "Who is next to be sorted?"

"You mean to leave us with no information?" Headmistress McGonagall asked sharply. "Just introduce a new House to Hogwarts, then continue on with the Sorting."

"It is part of the puzzle," the Sorting Hat said. "Please call the next student. I grow tired."

The hat refused to divulge any more information, no matter how the professors tried to reason with it. When Professor McGonagall looked like she was ready to tear the hat to shreds, the Sorting continued, Lily standing awkwardly to the side.

"Prentice, Brenda." Professor Flitwick called out the names just a little less jovially, and each student gave the hat an extra hesitant look before sitting down. Brenda went to Ravenclaw. She breathed a sigh of relief as she headed for her table. Next, Catherine Russo went to Slytherin. Catherine also looked reassured.

"Suxe, Taran."

The large boy with the blue-tipped hair ambled forward.

"PELLINORE!"

Lily wondered if she should cheer for her new house mate. She settled for a noncommittal smile, remembering that this boy had been cruel to Emmaline on the train. After Taran's Sorting, it was the turn of the girl who Lily had noticed applying lip gloss at the train station.

"Swipt, Starletta." The hat was hardly touching a hair on her head when it belted out her House.

"PELLINORE!"

A Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor, and five Slytherins were sorted. Then it was Hugo's turn. As expected, he went to Gryffindor.

"Winkleworth, Emmaline."

The hat stayed on her head for a time. _Please, let her be with me!_ Lily thought desperately. Starletta, gazing in her mirror once again, seemed like an air-brain, and Taran was a bully. _ I deserve a friend._ _Please._ She thought maybe if she wished it hard enough, the Sorting Hat would hear her.

"PELLINORE!" Emmaline was the first student to grin when the hat called out that name. She scrambled down from the stool and joined Lily, squeezing her friend's arm.

After Emma, there were only two other students left. Becky Wu went to Ravenclaw, and Claire Yantork was the last new Hufflepuff of the year.

Professor McGonagall faced all the students when the Sorting was over. The four Pellinore students stood uneasily in the front of the room, attracting all eyes. The Headmistress noticed this, and transfigured a small, square table with four chairs. Lily took a seat quickly; she was glad to be even a little less visible.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts," the Headmistress said in a voice that commanded the attention of all. "It seems that this year is going to be filled with new surprises and adventures. We'll be needing sustenance now more than ever. Please enjoy the feast."

She resumed her seat.

None of the Pellinores had anything to say to each other. Starletta kept gazing into her mirror, checking to see that her hair wasn't mussed. Taran stared stonily at his plate, and Emmaline seemed to be afraid to be so close to him. The seat she had chosen was across from him, physically as far away as she could politely be, but it allowed for greater eye contact.

Lily passed the time by watching her brothers as they laughed and joked at the Gryffindor table. Every little while one of them, or a cousin, would catch Lily's eye and give her a sympathetic smile.

Lily had never felt so alone before.

…..

After all the teachers had a chance to eat, Professor McGonagall gathered them in a side room, leaving the prefects in charge. Occasionally Professor Longbottom or Professor Flitwick would stick his head into the room to see that order was being maintained. Once, Mr. Filch bustled through the hall and disappeared into the side room, but only after giving all the students warning glares. It was after dessert when the professors returned to the Grand Hall. Headmistress McGonagall stood at her podium once again.

"Due to the changes in House dynamics, the faculty has decided that classes will not begin tomorrow as planned." The students of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin cheered happily. The headmistress paused until they quieted. "To avoid anarchy, students will spend the day in their House common room or dormitory, unless participating in a pre-approved activity." The cheers changed to cries of dissent. The headmistress ignored this. "Copies of the activity list will be given to each of the House Prefects. All excursions outside of the common room, with the exception of meals, must be approved by a Prefect. Failure to comply with these rules will results in a punishment that I have not yet decided on. I can assure you that it will not be pleasant.

"Once final adjustments have been made to accommodate our new Pellinores, we will resume classes. I trust that each and every student will be on their very best behavior this year. Now I believe we have had much more than enough excitement for one night. Off to bed."

The students obeyed immediately, each of the four original houses beginning to filter out of the hall. Bits of many conversations drifted back to the remaining Pellinores, as did calls of Prefects to younger students.

As Lily stood up from the small, square Pellinore table, James and Albus approached her. They each gave her a tight hug, and then they stood and looked at her awkwardly. Lily studied her new school shoes, noting a scuff that needed polishing. Finally one of them cleared their throat.

"Are you going to owl Mum and Dad?" Al asked gently.

Lily's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't thought about how her Gryffindor parents would react. She could just hear them wondering where they had gone wrong. All desire to ever go home again fled her body. Aunt Hermione's research on Pellinore would begin immediately, while Uncle Ron would loudly wonder what Lily had said that the Sorting Hat had to make up a whole new category for her. Grandmother Molly would give her a hug and tea, all the while shaking her head softly, and Grandpa Arthur would pretend that nothing was wrong at all. All the Weasley cousins would tease her and her friends would laugh…

"Lil!" James said loudly, snapping his fingers near her ears. Lily shook her head to clear it. She vaguely wondered how many times James had said her name. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Lily said. "I'll owl our parents tomorrow." _Or never_, she added silently. Professor McGonagall approached them, candlelight making her shadow fall over Lily's brother's shoulders.

"Misters Potter, I sent all the students off to bed. I trust you have not forgotten where your dormitories are."

"But Professor-" James began.

"We were just-" Albus said at the same time.

"Checking on your sister," McGonagall finished for them. "She is fine, and though I admire your loyalty, Lily and her housemates have a tough bit ahead of them. I daresay she could use a good night's rest. Off to bed. You may see her again in the morning."

"I really am fine, you guys," Lily added, sensing that her brothers were still a little hesitant to obey. She didn't want them to get in trouble over her. With a sigh, James hugged her again, then Albus followed suite, and the two set off for Gryffindor Tower.

Professor McGonagall put her arm around Lily's shoulders and led her back to the other Pellinores. They stood in a semi-circle, facing the Headmistress.

"Well we certainly have an interesting term ahead of us," she said. "Tomorrow we will worry about all the little details of having a new House. Mr. Filch discovered a new doorway which appears to be the entrance to the Pellinore common room, but I wish to have it evaluated for safety before you use it. I will help Professors Longbottom see to that; you can never be too careful. For now, I want you four to get plenty of rest. Professor Flitwick will take you to your temporary rooms."

The four Pellinores turned to follow the small professor as he led them away. Professor McGonagall gave them a sympathetic smile. "Good night."

…..

Lily, Emmaline, and Starletta slept on cots set up in a room in the transfiguration hallway. Starletta had braided and pinned her hair meticulously before putting on her frilly-yet-classy nightgown. Emmaline also wore a nightgown that fell around her ankles, though hers was devoid of frills and lace. Lily felt silly in her old Holyhead Harpies t-shirt and faded flannel shorts.

It took Lily a long time to fall asleep. The night slipped slowly away as Lily laid in bed, listening to the sound of her house-mates breathing and thinking about their predicament. Finally Nelson settled into a hollow in the blankets at her side. His extra warmth made Lily sleepy.

…..

In the morning, Lily woke up feeling even more tired than she had been before she went to sleep. Emmaline was already up and dressed. Sitting on her cot, Emma had a pillow on her lap and she was using it as a desk while she wrote in her book.

"Good morning," she said when she saw that Lily was awake.

"Morning," Lily replied. "So how do you like wizard school?"

"This isn't exactly what I expected," Emma said. Lily sighed and ran her hands over her face.

"I'm still kind of dazed," she said, glancing to see if Starletta was awake. The other girl was wearing a laced-edged mask over her eyes. She slept primly, hands clasped on her stomach.

"Do you want to go to breakfast?" Emma asked.

"What about Starletta?" Lily asked.

"I'll wake her up," Emma said. "The bathroom is right across the hall. I changed in there."

Lily nodded, grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of her trunk. She changed in one of the bathroom stalls. When she came out, she noticed how tangles her hair was. She was wrestling with her brush when Starletta walked into the bathroom.

"Good morning," Lily said, trying to be cheerful.

"Hello," Starletta said, with a thin smile. She went into a stall and closed the door. Shrugging, Lily turned back to the mirror. Though she had never met Starletta, she had heard of the Swipt family before. James had often mentioned the Slytherin Quidditch captain Simeon Swipt. Swipts were always sorted into Slytherin, just as Weasleys and Potters always went to Gryffindor. Lily and Starletta were in the same boat.

Remembering that, Lily spit her toothpaste into the sink, vaguely watching the colored foam trickle down the drain. Starletta was now at a mirror near hers, pulling her hair into a loose ponytail. Lily decided to take another stab at conversation.

"So… it looks like it's really nice out today," she said.

"Yeah," Starletta said, inserting pearl earrings into her earlobes. Lily thought she wasn't going to say anything else, so she gathered up her things. As she pushed the door open, Lily heard her speak softly.

"I wish we were normal," Starletta whispered.

"I do too," Lily said. The door creaked closed, sealing them both in the bathroom. After a moment she added, "It's going to be okay."

"You really think so?" Starletta said, finally turning away from the mirror. Her voice was slightly choked.

"Yes," Lily said. Starletta gave her a genuine smile.

"Do you think we'll have a Quidditch team someday?" she asked.

"We'll win the Quidditch Cup every year," Lily said, grinning. "C'mon. Let's get something to eat. I'm starving."

…..

Professor McGonagall asked the Pellinores to a classroom, promising them a "working breakfast." When they arrived, she was at the head of a table. Taran was sitting on her right, and the girls took a seat to her left.

"There are a few details we need to sort out. Your dormitories are being inspected as we speak. For the time being, Professor Longbottom will act as your Head of House. If there are any situations of emergency, or for your schedules, you will go to him.

"Now, your House colors will be violet and bronze. Your mascot has not yet been decided."

"Can we choose?" asked Lily.

"And end up with a fearsome bunny as our mascot," Taran quipped.

"And what would you pick?" Starletta asked.

"A dragon," the boy said. Lily thought she could live with that.

"No magical creatures," Professor McGonagall put in.

"A shark, then," Taran amended. "With lots of teeth."

"How about a tiger?" Starletta suggested.

"That's too close to the Gryffindor lion," Lily said.

"A horse?" Starletta said.

"You mean a pretty pink pony?" Taran sneered. "We'd be better off with the bunny."

"The Sorting Hat said that Petranne Pellinore liked puzzles, right?" Emmaline spoke up. "So what if we made our mascot a fox? Foxes are highly intelligent. In animal symbolism, they inspire passion, intensity, and encourage one to think outside of the box. "

"That's a really good idea," Starletta said.

"I love it, Em," Lily agreed. Their eyes turned to the boy.

"It's alright," Taran mumbled.

"Foxes are very good at adapting or camouflaging to their surroundings," Professor McGonagall said. "You could say that your choice will remind you to adapt to your circumstances and use them to your advantage. A fox will make a very good mascot for your house. Smart thinking, Miss Winkleworth."

Emmaline blushed and smiled down at her hands. Professor McGonagall went on. "Now then, I would like to interview you individually, beginning with you, Mr. Suxe. At the very least we must owl all of your parents and make them aware of the situation.

"After lunch you will be taken to your dormitory. For now you are free to explore the castle. I'll send a prefect for you when I need you." The girls thanked her and began to leave. "Oh Ms. Potter," Professor McGonagall called.

"Yes, Headmistress?" Lily asked, turning.

"You'll want to go see those pesky brothers of yours. They stood outside of my office so long that I was forced to confine them to Gryffindor Tower until lunch. It's a shame really. Most of the other Gryffindors are enjoying flying practice at the Quidditch pitch." Lily grinned.

"I'll see right to them, madam."

Emmaline was going to find the library, and Starletta wanted to take a nap, so Lily got directions from a prefect and went to the Gryffindor common room alone. She stood beside the portrait of the Fat Lady, wondering how she was going to see her brothers.

She wasn't there long when two arms engulfed her from behind. A strong scent of perfume filled Lily's nose. It was a familiar aroma.

"Hello Domi," Lily said.

"Lily, you poor dear," Dominique said, squeezing her tighter. "How dreadful it must be to be sorted into a new house!"

"It's okay, really," Lily insisted.

"That's the spirit," Dominique said. "Just keep hanging in there."

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked. Lily looked at her cousin.

"I came up here to visit my brothers, but since I'm not a Gryffindor, I don't know the password."

"Ah your brothers. They're they only ones in there. Well, don't worry about the password. I'll take you in." Dominique leaned close to the Fat Lady and whispered the password. She smiled down at Lily.

When Lily climbed through the portrait hole, she saw her brothers sitting on the floor, a deck of cards between them. When they saw her, they abandoned their game, strewing cards across the floor.

James and Albus bombarded Lily, flooding her with questions.

"Are you alright?"

"How did you sleep?"

"Did that Swipt girl say anything about her brother's Quidditch tactics?"

"Stop it!" Lily said. "My goodness. I'm a Pellinore, not dead. I'm fine."

"Sorry, Lily. We're just worried about you," Albus said.

"Yeah," James added. "We thought we'd have our sister in Gryffindor and we could all play exploding snap, and pull pranks on Filch, and-"

"We can still do those things," Lily interrupted. "You're still my brothers. And being a Potter is more important than being a Pellinore or a Gryffindor."

"Okay," Albus said.

"You're right, Lil," James said. "Family comes first no matter what."

"Now, about those games of exploding snap," Lily said, dropping to the floor. James launched into an explanation of the game. It was a good hour later when Dominique came down the stairs from her dorm room. She walked straight over to one of the windows.

"Take a look at this," she said. Lily, James, and Albus crowded around the window.

Lily watched as her mother stormed angrily up the path. Harry ran behind her, presumably trying to persuade her to calm down. She finally turned to him in front of the castle gate. He took a few steps backwards as she yelled at him.

"Ooh that looks like fun," James said, watching over Lily's shoulder as their parents argued.

"Oh yes," Hugo said. "Loads of fun."

Another Gryffindor prefect came into the common room. "Lily, the Headmistress wishes for you to come to her office," he said.

"This is not going to be good," Lily sighed and nodded, heading for the portrait hole.

"I'll light a candle for you," James called after her.

Once downstairs, she met up with Professor McGonagall and her parents. Her dad immediately put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her into his side. The Headmistress led Harry and Ginny into her office, but seated Lily on a bench outside. "I'll get you in a few minutes," she promised.

A few minutes turned into a quarter hour, then a half. Lily sat primly on the bench, tapping a pattern on the ground with her feet. When that grew boring, she slouched a little, leaning her head back onto the cool stone wall behind her. She closed her eyes, and was just about to drift off when she felt something small and warm land on her forehead.

She squeaked, brushing the unknown substance away from her eyes. It landed on her lap, and she realized that it was the webbed foot of a chocolate frog.

Quiet but familiar laughter drifted through the corridor. _James and Albus_, Lily thought. Her brothers sauntered around the corner, taking seats on either side of her.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed. "If Mr. Filch sees you-"

"Thanks to Uncle George's Mice-in-a-Can, getting past Ole' Filch and Mrs. Norris was easier than giving Dear Cousin Domi the slip," James interrupted, placing the rest of the chocolate frog in her hand.

"We came to support our favorite sister!" Al whispered heroically.

"I'm your only sister," Lily said flatly.

"All the more reason to support you," James said.

"Look, we know that neither one of us would want to be in your shoes," Albus said. "Not with Mum in this kind of a mood."

"Are you scared?" James asked.

"Not really," Lily said. "We've been through this already. Potter is thicker than water."

They heard the raised voice of their mother through the door, though they couldn't make out her words.

"Just remember, you're her only daughter," Albus said. "She won't kill you."

"You'd be surprised what you can live through," James mumbled. Getting a clear mental image of Uncle Ron with bats coming out of his nose, Lily laughed a bit louder than she meant to.

"Shh- Lily," James said. "Someone will hear. The last thing we want is to get caug-"

A curt voice interrupted. "I don't believe that 'skulking about outside the Headmistress's office' was on the morning's activities list, gentlemen."

Lily, James, and Albus looked up into the face of Professor McGonagall. Their parents stood just behind her. Harry was the opposite of their cross-armed, angry mother. He looked bemused, hands shoved in his pockets.

"Of course, I may just be going senile, but I do remember confining two certain Potters to Gryffindor Tower."

The boys jumped up.

"But-" James began. Ginny looked at her sons, eyes blazing.

"If you have any sense of self preservation, you will not finish a sentence that defies the Headmistress. Get where you're supposed to be, or so help me, I will bat-bogey you into next year."

"Yes mum," Albus said quickly, turning to trot down the hall. James walked backwards, following him.

"We'll be at the Quidditch pitch after lunch," he mumbled to Lily. When they were gone, the adults turned to Lily.

"Lily, what happened?" Ginny asked her daughter briskly.

"I put the hat on, and it sent me to Pellinore," she said, already tired of explaining it.

"Let's not discuss this in the corridor," Harry said, putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder and the other on Lily's. He led them into Professor McGonagall's office and they all took seats.

Lily leaned against her dad, finding his touch comforting.

"Did it the Sorting Hat say anything to you?" Harry asked. Lily nodded.

"It said that I am the Heir of Pellinore. I don't know exactly what that means, but the hat also said that Petranne Pellinore liked puzzles, so I think it's something I've got to figure out."

"I guess it makes sense," Ginny said. "You've always liked the Muggle puzzle toys your dad bought you."

"If it's part of a puzzle, we'll work it out. You have some of the most brilliant minds at your disposal, Lily. Use them."

"And by brilliant, I assume you mean Hermione Weasley," McGonagall said with a knowing smile.

"Who else?" Harry confirmed, grinning. "Between Hermione and the library, there isn't a question that you could ask that we can't find the answer to."

"I just want to know that this new House won't have a negative effect on my daughter's magical education," Ginny said to Professor McGonagall.

"I don't believe it will," the Headmistress replied. "The Pellinores are going to have as rigorous a schedule as any other student. Hogwarts standards will not be lowered for them."

"If anything, I can see their house-size positively impacting their learning," Harry said. "If there are only four of them, they'll get more individual attention from their professors."

"I don't think any of the professors will mistreat us, mum," Lily added.

"We'll try it," Ginny said. "But if I feel that Lily's best interests are not being served, I reserve the right to pull her out and teach her at home."

"I really don't think that will be necessary," Professor McGonagall said. Just then a clock above the mantel chimed the hour.

"Merlin's beard, Gin," Harry said. "We're supposed to be at the Burrow."

"Audrey's baby shower! If we're late, Phlegm is going to kill me."

"You can Floo from here," Professor McGonagall said, turning as someone came into the room.

"Headmistress?" a young voice asked. It was the Head Boy, a Ravenclaw lad with dark hair. "I've found three Hufflepuffs wandering in the potions hallway."

"Nonbelievers, eh?" McGonagall asked. "I'll deal with them."

When she was gone, Harry wandered over the painting of Albus Dumbledore, staring at the sleeping wizard. He spoke briefly with Severus Snape's portrait, while Ginny and her mother looked awkwardly at each other.

"Mum, are you really mad that I'm not in Gryffindor?" Lily asked at last.

"No, Honey, I'm not mad. You need to be yourself, not a clone of me or your father," Ginny said, hugging her daughter close. "I am a little upset that I didn't hear about this from you. Gwell showed up this morning." Gwell was James's ferruginous owl. He was smaller then Lily's hand, with brown and white feathers.

"Sorry," Lily said. "I was preoccupied last night. I promise I'll write more often."

"Do that, and eat your vegetables," Ginny said, stepping into the fireplace. A moment later she was gone. Harry looked down at his daughter. Lily wiped her eyes with the collar of her t-shirt.

"I don't know why I'm so sad to see you go. I was fine when we got on the train yesterday. I guess it's just a little overwhelming."

"C'mere Sweetie," her dad said, pulling her into a hug. "You know, Lily, everything happens for a reason. There is some purpose for the four of you being sorted into Pellinore. Merlin knows what it is, but someday, we'll find out why, and it will all make sense. We just have to be patient."

"Thanks Dad," Lily said. "I'm okay now."

"Love you," she called after him.


	3. Making Adjustments

**Lily Potter and the Secret of Pellinore  
Chapter Three: Making Adjustments**

After lunch, it was Starletta's turn to talk with the Headmistress. Albus and James half-dragged Lily to the Quidditch pitch. She, in turn, dragged Emmaline along with them.

"But I've never ridden a broom," Emma protested, looking down at the very old Cleansweep that lay on the ground beside her.

"Don't worry about it," James said. "Our parents are enormous Quidditch fans. All three of us could fly before we could walk."

"Yeah, we'll help you," Albus added. He raised his hand over his broom. He and James each had a Cumulus 6.2, a new model of racing broom. Lily and Emmaline were to ride brooms borrowed from the school. "They're not much to look at, but they're good training brooms," Albus said. Then he said "Up."

His broom flew into his hand. When Lily repeated the command, her broom rose steadily. Emma's only gave a slight quiver.

"You have to really want it," Albus said. "Put more of a sharp edge in your voice."

"Up!" Emmaline said again. This time the broom rose. As Al gave her further instructions, James flew circles around them.

"You're making me dizzy," Lily complained.

"It looks like Al has the lesson under control. C'mon, I'll race you to the goal post."

"You're on," Lily yelled, abandoning her Cleansweep for Al's Cumulus.

Then they were off. James pulled ahead, but Lily found that she didn't care. Their London home had no yard, so the only place that Lily had ever flown was the meadow outside of her grandparents' home. Even there, she had to be careful not to go too far or too high, lest she be seen by Muggles.

Here at Hogwarts, it was a different story. Students zoomed all around her, flying as high as they like. Lily urged her broom upwards.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" James asked. He had reached the goal, circled it, and returned to fly at Lily's side.

"Yes. I wish I could stay up here forever," she said. "Look how small Al and Emma are!"

"Imagine trying to find the Snitch. It's so tiny it's hard to see in nice weather, never mind a storm," James said. "I don't know how Al does it."

Albus was the Gryffindor Quidditch team's seeker, and James was a beater. The team was undefeated for the past three years. Of course, it helped that most of the team was from the Weasley-Potter clan. Cousin Molly, a 6th year, was a chaser and the team captain. The other chasers were Louis Weasley, and a boy named William Cade. The second beater was Freddie Weasley, and the keeper was Miranda Wood, daughter of the legendary player, Oliver Wood. It was a very solid team.

"I wish I could play Quidditch," Lily said. "We'd knock all you Gryffindors off your broomsticks."

"Maybe someday you will," James said. "Though I highly doubt that you'd even be able to touch the ends of our brooms." Just then another rider whizzed past them. Unprepared for the sudden wind resistance, Lily banged into James's broom. It spun, tail over handle and he fell. Lily raced after him. Looking down, she saw the ground rapidly growing closer. Her stomach twisted, and she squeezed her eyes closed.

"Lily!" James called. Lily opened her eyes. Her brother had his arms stretched out towards her. Gripping her broom with her legs, Lily reached frantically for his hand, fingers finally clasping around his. She pulled up, but James's downward momentum was too great. They slowed, but did not stop falling.

It had rained the night before. The ground in the pitch was mostly mud. Lily and James splashed into a large puddle, sending mud flying everywhere.

"Are you alright?" Albus yelled, flying over. Emmaline was behind him, flying in a clumsy line.

Lily, lying half on her brother and half in the mud, began to laugh. She wasn't sure why; it was not a funny situation. Mud was seeping through her clothes and into her shoes, but she didn't care.

"Are you off your rocker?" James asked, crawling out from beneath her.

"I'm fine," Lily said, sitting up. "You have to admit, that was pretty exhilarating."

James chuckled. "You're right, except for the almost being murdered part."

"What happened?" Madame Hooch had been supervising the area. Now she hovered above James and Lily. They clambered to their feet, Albus and Emmaline assisting them.

"It was an accident, Madame Hooch," Lily said. "I've never been that high before; I didn't realize how windy it would be; I blew into James. We're both fine."

Madame Hooch didn't quite look convinced, but she did not press the matter. "That was an impressive bit of flying, Miss Potter. It's too bad that you won't be playing Quidditch. It would be hard to beat the Gryffindor team with all three of you on it."

"Do you think the Pellinores might have a team next year, if they get enough new students?" Al asked.

"I'll address the Headmistress, if the need arises," Madame Hooch said. She looked at James and Lily, who were both covered in mud from head to foot. "Well go get cleaned up. Someone is looking for you, Miss Potter. You as well, Miss Winkleworth."

Lily looked towards the stands. Starletta waved worriedly. She and Emma hurried over.

"Are you okay?" Starletta asked. "I got here just in time to see you get shoved by that Slytherin boy." Emmaline gasped lightly.

"Were you really pushed?" she asked.

"No, he just flew kind of close," Lily said. "It's not a big deal."

"It looked malicious to me," Starletta insisted. Lily turned to her.

"I'm fine. How did your interview with Professor McGonagall go?" she asked, deflecting the attention from herself.

"Really well," Starletta said. "If we survive the hazing from the other Houses, I think we're going to be okay."

"It would be cool if we could have a Quidditch team," Emma said. "I think I'd like to be a chaser."

"Yeah, I always wanted to be a keeper or a seeker," Starletta said. "Anyways, Professor McGonagall sent me out to get you. She said that our dormitory is ready." Lily smiled.

"Well in that case, last one to the castle is a blast-ended skrewt!" she called, scampering ahead of them. Starletta ran after her, and Emmaline brought up the rear.

"Hey you guys? What's a skrewt?"

…..

The entrance to the Pellinore common room was on the first floor of the castle, in the transfiguration hallway. When the girls arrived, they saw Taran, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. He had left his interview with the Headmistress with hair that was now devoid of blue. He also had acquired sleeves. Pieces of fabric had knit themselves to where he'd torn off the original sleeves. The material looked suspiciously like the tablecloth that they'd breakfasted on that morning. In any case, the pink floral material clashed horribly with Taran's neon orange t-shirt.

"Nice mud," he said cruelly when he saw Lily. Fortunately, years of practice with her own brothers had honed Lily's retort skills.

"Nice sleeves," she said without missing a beat. The boy scowled, but didn't say anything; the Headmistress was nearby. She looked Lily up and down.

"Your brothers?" she asked. Lily grinned. Professor McGonagall cast a drying charm on Lily so that she would not get mud on anything. Lily was looking forward to using the new Pellinore bath house.

"Shall we?" the Headmistress asked. Next to an iron-bar door, there was a small, mirror-lined nook in the wall. When Professor McGonagall stepped up to it, a wooden puzzle appeared in the nook.

"Would anyone like to try?" the Headmistress asked. "Mr. Suxe?"

Taran stepped up to the nook and arranged the puzzle pieces. When he successfully put them together, a smokey face appeared, in the back of the nook.

"Password?"

"Hippogriff," Professor McGonagall said softly. The iron grate that covered the door began to lift, and the face in the mirror disappeared. All four Pellinores peered into the darkness, looking at the ominous staircase that led into the blackness below. "I'll just let you explore," the Headmistress said. "We'll see you at supper."

Lily walked slowly down the spiral staircase, keeping one hand on the cool stone wall. The others followed her, one at a time. It was a very old fashioned staircase, with large stone steps. Lily had never felt so surrounded by stone; it was on all sides, echoing every sound. Every few steps there was a torch set into a nook in the wall, but the light, absorbed by the soul-clenching darkness, only illuminated a few steps at a time. When they had walked so far that Lily thought they must be below the dungeons, the stairs finally ended in a archway draped with sheer, violet curtains.

The Pellinores found themselves standing the common room. The flagstones of the stairway were replaced with thick carpeting. The room itself was decorated in many shades of violet.

"It looks like that pygmy-rat threw up," Taran muttered. Lily ignored him, exploring the room. There was a large fireplace, with several cozy chairs placed around it. Above the mantel, there was a large portrait of a woman in a tall pointed hat. This painting was different from most of the others in the castle. It had not been magically made, and therefore did not move. Nevertheless, it was stunning. The woman's soft brown hair tumbled over her shoulders from beneath her hat, and her fine lilac robes complimented her eyes. There was a placard beneath the painting that read "Petranne Pellinore."

"She was beautiful," Starletta said dreamily. It seemed that for once, all four of them agreed on something. Even Taran was mesmerized by the painting.

"A beautiful mystery," Lily said at last, turning away from the painting to survey the rest of the room. There were tables, presumably for homework, though one of them was covered with the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Some of the tables had books on them, with titles like _Help with Transfiguration_ and _Magical Stones and Powders _. Lily also saw _101 Magical Mysteries_ and _Puzzle Boxes of Ancient China._

Several doors led off of the main room. When she opened the first door, Lily found a short staircase that ended in a landing and another set of doors. One of these led to the bathroom, and the other was the girls' dormitory. Lily found her trunk and Nelson's cage near one of the beds. The pygmy puff started screeching when he saw Lily, and would not stop until she let him out. He trilled happily, settling on Lily's bed.

Lily opened her trunk, pulling out a clean set of clothes.

"I'm going to break-in the bathtub," she told her friends. She ran a nice, warm bubble bath and soaked away the mud. She tried not to think about the incident on the Quidditch pitch, but it was near impossible. Was Starletta right? Were the Pellinores going to be hazed by the other students? The professors would never allow it, but they couldn't be there all the time.

When Lily got out of the bath, she was more tense than before. She longed to fling herself down on the bed, draw the curtains, and fall asleep there until the year was over, but she knew her brothers would owl their mum if she missed dinner. The last thing she needed was a Howler to draw attention to her table.

Instead of falling asleep, Lily sat on her bed, leaning on the fluffy pillows and watching the other girls unpack their things. Emmaline began by taking all of the books out of her worn messenger bag. Then she pulled even more books out of her trunk. She lined all of them up on her headboard. Lily was suddenly very glad that their beds had curtains. She suspected that Emma would soon be learning the _lumos _spell. Her desk was set up as the optimal homework site. Her textbooks were stacked on one side, and on the other she had a many-drawered box. Each compartment of this box was filled with little clips, tacs, pens, pencils, or some other office accessory. She had a bulletin board on the wall, where she'd pinned a calendar, newspaper clipping, and several pictures of her family.

Starletta was turning her desk into a vanity. The drawers were filled with bows, lotions, jewelry, combs, and little jars of makeup. She had a large mirror with a fine wooden frame propped up against the wall. Next to her desk was a shoe tree. There were shoes of every variety, all immaculately cared for and placed on their own peg.

"I've never seen so many shoes!" Emmaline said. Lily didn't really hear Starletta's response. She was thinking of the things she would hang above her own desk when she found the energy: a Holyhead Harpies pennant, pictures of her goofy brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, and her dad's chocolate frog card. Mr. Darcy jumped up into her lap, purring and rubbing his face against her hand until she petted him. His warmth lulled her into sleep.

…..

Emmaline shook Lily awake in time for supper. She put on some shoes and followed her friends up to dinner. The dining hall looked vastly different than it had the night before. Now there were five House tables spanning the length of the room. They may have been a hair or two closer together than before, but the room had been magicked to accommodate the extra table. Banners hung above each table, now including one that was violet with the bronze silhouette of a fox. There was also a new house point-counter, filled with sparkling purple gems. Somehow seeing the new paraphernalia made Lily feel more at ease. She, Starletta, and Emmaline took seats at the end of the table that was closest to the teacher's table. Taran sat as close to the door as he could.

The professors arrived and supper began. This time there was no speech, no ceremony, and no momentous feast. Supper was meat pie; plain, simple, and good. Lily and her new friends chatted lightly.

"I don't like the way he looks at me," Emmaline said. "It makes me feel like he just tripped an old lady or kicked a puppy."

"He probably did," Lily said. "He pushed you on the train, didn't he?"

"I don't know what on earth possessed him to have blue hair. Blue?" Starletta said. "It wouldn't have been so bad if it was sky blue, or sapphire, but that shade of cerulean just clashes with everything."

About halfway through the meal, a large dark owl swooped into the hall. Lily got an uneasy feeling as the regal-looking bird swooped down to the Pellinore table. It dropped a red envelope beside Starletta's plate.

All three of them stared at it as it began to smoke.

"What's that?" Emma whispered as the envelope began to smoke.

"A howler!" Lily hissed.

"This is terrible!" Starletta hissed, her eyes filling with tears. "What should I do? Grab it and run?"

Before Lily had a chance to answer, the envelope exploded, and a male voice boomed throughout the Great Hall, making the tables shake with its resonation and drowning out all thought and conversation. It captured everyone's attention.

"STARLETTA SWIPT!

HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE YOUR FAMILY! FOR THE LAST 600 YEARS OUR FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE BEEN PLACED IN THE NOBLE HOUSE OF SLYTHERIN! YOUR MOTHER AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HUMILIATED!

WE EXPECT YOU TO ABANDON THIS SILLY SORTING ERROR AND RETURN HOME. IF YOU CHOOSE TO STAY AT HOGWARTS IN THIS CURRENT SITUATION, WILL BE FORMALLY DISOWNED FROM THE CLAN."

Abruptly, the noise stopped. Starletta looked at the crumbling pieces of paper, shaking. Lily saw the tears that the other girl had been holding back spill down her cheeks. Before anyone could say anything, Starletta jumped up and ran out of the hall. Lily and Emmaline just looked helplessly at each other as voices began to buzz.

Lily glanced at the Slytherin table. She easily picked out Starletta's brother. They had very similar features. He bent his head over his breakfast, eating steadily. Scorpius Malfoy was sitting near him. He caught Lily looking at them and gave her a sympathetic smile.

With most of the hall pointing and whispering, Lily and Emmaline finished their supper in silence. At the end of the meal, Professor McGonagall stood and addressed the students.

"As you all should know, tomorrow marks the start of our new term. I want to thank most of you for your good behavior today, and I strongly encourage you to keep up your efforts. Let me make it perfectly clear: there will be absolutely no hazing tolerated this year."

Lily cringed. She appreciated what the headmistress was trying to do, but singling out the Pellinore seemed like the wrong way to go. Professor McGonagall might as well have painted targets on their dress robes and let the other students at them with their wands.

She glanced at Emmaline. Her friend's expression was hard to read, but Lily thought that they were in agreement. The headmistress finished her lecture, then turned her attention to the Pellinore table.

"Also, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our new house, and to remind them that though it may be a tough beginning, the greatest prize can often lie at the end of the thorniest path."

With that, Headmistress McGonagall sent them all off to bed. As she made her way out of the room, Lily waved good night to her brothers. She and Emmaline didn't speak until they had reached the Pellinore common room. They each sunk into a chair by the crackling fire.

"Do you think Starletta is okay?" Emmaline asked, tucking her feet beneath her.

"I don't know," Lily said. She leaned back into her chair, her head resting on the soft backing. "Howlers can be pretty bad. I've gotten a few from my mum, but never in front of so many people."

"So many people that are just looking for a reason to scorn us all," Emmaline amended. They heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Taran crossed the room, barely glancing at them. When he'd gone into his room, Emma said "It must be lonely to be him."

"If he wanted friends he'd get an attitude adjustment," Lily said. "Its hard to like someone that treats you like garbage."

"You're right," Emma admitted. "I'd have more sympathy if he hadn't pushed me on the train."

Lily yawned deeply. "Let's go to bed," she said. "I'm worn out."

They made their way into their bedroom, Lily shedding her sweater along the way. Starletta had drawn the curtains around her bed, leaving her shoes on the floor.

"Starletta?" Lily asked, moving to brush the curtains aside, but a stubborn hand held them in place.

"Are you okay?" Emmaline tried.

"Leave me alone," Starletta said frostily.

"Just give her some time," Lily whispered, gathering up her pajamas and toothbrush. When she came back from the bathroom, Emmaline had picked up Starletta's abandoned shoes and placed them in their spot on her shoe tree.

Lily buried her face in her pillow, groaning. School hadn't officially started yet, and she was already mentally exhausted.

_

* * *

**AN:** Sorry about the long wait. I had resolved to update this story on Fridays, but my hard drive fried a couple of weeks back, and I lost most of the story. That's what took so long; rewriting. Let me know what you think!  
_


	4. Classes Commence

**Lily Potter and the Secret of Pellinore  
Chapter 4: Classes Commence  
**

At breakfast the next morning, a snowy white owl swooped down to the Pellinore table, and Lily found a small note, scribbled in her father's hand: "Good Luck!" She felt bad for Starletta, who had not even come to the Great Hall. She was too ashamed.

"Should we go get her and make her eat something?" Emma asked. Lily shrugged her shoulders, unsure.

"Give her some time," Professor Longbottom said, standing at the end of the table. Since he had been made their Head of House, Lily wasn't surprised to see him. "Howlers can be quite humiliating." He said this wryly, with a memory behind his eyes.

"It's not fair of her family to do that to her," Lily said heatedly. She couldn't imagine how she would have felt had her father sent her a Howler of that nature.

"No, it's not," Neville agreed.

"Uncle Nev, would you have been upset if Bailey was a Pellinore?"

"I may have been a little surprised- well, a lot surprised, but it would not have been the end of the world," he replied. "Bailey would have been just fine if she was in your shoes because she has friends and family that support her, no matter what. Just like you girls. I worry about Starletta and Taran, but I think that if you two can befriend them, it will all work out in the end."

"That's a lot to think about," Emma said. "That boy is scary."

"Well, I never said it would be an easy task," the professor said, chuckling. "Speaking of tasks, I've forgotten mine. Here are your schedules. I'll see you ladies soon." He went off towards Taran's end of the table.

"He doesn't lie," Emmaline said, looking over her schedule. Herbology was their first class of the day.

Half an hour later, Lily and Emmaline entered Greenhouse A. Taran was behind them, keeping a good distance. At first it looked like a jungle, with plants lining the walls on either side of a dirt path. They stayed on the path, and it opened up on a clearing, where Professor Longbottom had arranged a dozen small tables, one of which had been piled with planters, dirt, and strange-looking vines.

Their robe-clad teacher was bent over a large bin that had been labeled "trowels." As Professor Longbottom straightened, Lily, Emmaline, and Taran took seats at the table, the latter edging as far away from the girls as he could get without tipping his chair over.

"Good morning, Pellinores!" Neville said excitedly as he emerged from the box, arms full of small shovels. Since they'd seen him at breakfast, he'd thrown a old, dirty smock over his robes. He'd also acquired a smudge of dirt on his right temple and bits of leaves in his brown hair. "Welcome to Herbology. I'm very excited for your house's lessons. Since there are only four of you, we're going to be able to tackle projects that just aren't practical for a larger class.

"Today we're going to jump right in and get our hands dirty. Our first project will be growing and caring for _mimbulus mimbletonia_." He paused, fondly patting the pot of a large green plant. It gave a vague shudder. Lily recognized this specimen; she had encountered it before.

When she was five years old, she'd spent a week with the Longbottoms at their summer home. She and Bailey had snuck into Neville's greenhouse/study to play with a flitterbloom plant, but when their eyes fell on the _mimbulus mimbeltonia_, their plans changed. They each grabbed a quill and began poking the plant enthusiastically. Half an hour later Bailey's mother came into the study to find it, and the two girls, covered in stinksap. Lily had gotten two Howlers from her own mother that day.

Neville set the _mimbulus mimbletonia _in the center of their table for them to examine. Emmaline reached towards the plant, one finger extended as if to nudge it. "Don't!" Lily cried, swatting her hand away. "The pus smells terrible."

"That it does, Miss Potter. Stinksap is extremely pungent," Neville said. "Perhaps you can tell me some other properties of stink sap."

"Well, I know that the _mimbulus mimbletonia _uses it to protect itself from predators, and that it can be used to heal animals," she said.

"Very good. Ten points to Pellinore," Neville said. "_Mimbulus mimbletonia_ can also be used as an antidote to nervousness, shyness, and timidity, which is why I thought it would be a good starting place for us." Emmaline raised her hand. "Yes, Miss Winkleworth?"

"Must the entire plant be near you to cure shyness, or can parts of it be dried and put in a pouch or brewed in a tea or something?"

Neville opened his mouth, then closed it, eyebrows furrowed. As long as she could remember, Lily had never heard anyone ask a question about plants, especially _mimbulus mimbletonia_, that Neville Longbottom could not answer. "That's a very good question, Miss Winkleworth. Perhaps we will do some experimenting."

Professor Longbottom gave them each a clay pot filled with rich soil, and placed a bag of dragon dung fertilizer in the middle of the table. He then poured some _mimbulus mimbletonia _seeds into each of their hands. The seeds were miniscule, blood red in color, and extremely slimy. They also gave off a faint odor of stink sap. Lily got straight to work; she didn't want to smell the seeds for any longer than she must.

Awhile later, as Lily patted down the soil over her seeds, she heard the greenhouse door shift open. A moment later, Starletta slipped through the jungle and into the seat that had been left empty for her.

She looked rough. Her hair fell limply around her face, almost hiding her red-rimmed eyes. She stared at the table, not even looking up when Professor Longbottom came to her side and began giving her directions.

After Herbology, the Pellinores made their way down to the dungeons. Potions was their next class. They were taking it with the first-year Ravenclaws. In the classroom, there were several small tables around the edges of the room. There was a blackboard hanging on the wall beside each table, with the names of two students on each. Lily found her name on the left side of the room, at the table closest to the front.

Group One  
Kyle Barkely  
Lily Potter

To her dismay, Lily found all of the Pellinore students had been split up. She was nervous about spending too much one-on-one time with people from the other houses. What if they teased her? She'd never be able to focus on potions if that happened.

She took her seat as the teacher walked in. Lily could think of only one work to describe Professor Malone: jolly. She was large and round, with a happy face and bright blue eyes. Long brown hair hung straight down from beneath her pointed cap.

"Good morning, class," Professor Malone said cheerily. "I'll trust you've all found your seats. Let's begin."

She waved her wand at the rolls of parchment that were piled upon her desk. They floated down the aisle between tables, one landing in front of each student. Lily unrolled hers and looked it over.

"This is a Potions Form," Professor Malone explained. "This one is already filled out. For each class, I will ask you to read the section on the potion we will be brewing, then fill out a Potions Form on it. This will aid you when you come to class and we brew the potion.

"Today we will be working on a Laugh-Inducing Draught. It is fairly simple to brew. I want you all to work in your groups today, using only one cauldron. After you brew the potion, we will test its effectiveness. You may begin."

Lily was mildly familiar with this potion. Uncle George sold sweets that made the consumer laugh uncontrollably. She set down the roll of parchment and looked up at her partner. His straw-colored hair fell into his eyes as he read through the instructions.

"Let's get started," Kyle said. Lily felt relieved. He wasn't treating her like a freak.

"Begin with a flask of water, six red beetle eyes, and two pinches of goose grass," Lily read.

"Maybe we should just throw in some Laughing Licorice and be done with it," Kyle said, adding the ingredients to the cauldron. Lily lit a fire beneath it.

"You've been to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" she asked.

"Yeah, loads of times. My mum always lets us go in while she gets our school stuff. I love feeding those Canary Creams to my sister's cat," Kyle said, looking into the cauldron. "It's green. Time to add the Giant Purple Toad warts."

Lily dropped them in. Though it was an easy potion to make, it still required concentration. After they added the warts, they had to simmer the potion until it turned blue. Then they had to add peppermint oil, stir clockwise five times, add dried catnip leaves, and stir five more strokes, this time counterclockwise. Then the potion boiled until it turned bright pink.

"Looks right," Lily said as Professor Malone called the class to attention.

"We are going to start testing your potions now. If you are not quite finished, keep working and we'll come back to you. Let's start with Group Six."

Taran and a Ravenclaw girl stood, each getting a sample of their potion. For a moment nothing happened. Then, they both began to laugh steadily, Taran maintaining his scowl as he did.

"Very good!" Professor Malone said happily. "Group Three, you're next." That was Starletta and her partner. Their potion only managed a weak giggle. Group Six must have made some kind of mistake, because both of them began to sob when they took their potion. "I think you stirred backwards," Professor Malone advised. Group One was the last to demonstrate their potion. When it was their turn, Lily's group stood in front of the class, each with a vial of the draught. Professor Malone peered into their cauldron.

"This looks excellent, Group One. Now test it."

Lily raised her cup to her mouth. The potion smelled minty and tasted good, though it had a texture that made her gag. However, she had been given things far less savory by her own uncles and brothers. As soon as the potion was down, Lily began to laugh.

She wasn't sure what was so funny, but she laughed nevertheless. Beside her, Kyle was also in stitches. He dropped to the floor and rolled about. Lily found that it was hard to make out his form with the tears that were forming in her eyes. Leaning against the table, Lily gripped her aching sides and surrendered to the laughter.

"Very good!" Professor Malone said merrily, handing out biscuit antidotes to the potion they had brewed. "That was by far the strongest reaction. Five points to each of you."

Lily stuffed the biscuit in her mouth. It was hard to chew around all the laughter. Professor Malone cleared out all of their cauldrons with a single spell.

"Your homework is to read the section in your textbook about calming draughts and fill out a Potions Form on it. Class is dismissed."

Finally able to stop laughing, Lily wiped her eyes on her sleeve and gathered up her things.

"You know, at first I was worried that my grade would suffer, you know, with you not being a Ravencalw," Kyle said. "But you're smart, and you're good at brewing potions."

"Thanks," Lily said.

"C'mon Kyle!" a boy shouted from the doorway.

"Indoor voice, Mr. Peterson," Professor Malone admonished.

"See you later," Kyle called over his shoulder.

…..

A brief break followed Potions, and then the four Pellinores went to History of Magic. From the moment that Professor Binns drifted in through the blackboard, he didn't show any signs that he noticed that there were only four students in the class. He just droned on about Merlin and a wizard named Uric the Oddball. Lily struggled to write fast enough to keep up, and also to stay awake enough that her notes would be legible. By the time they escaped to lunch, her hand had cramped up. She was so glad to have been released from class that she didn't even mind sitting at the Pellinore table with everyone staring at her.

They had another break after lunch. Lily and Emmaline used this as an opportunity to take a walk near the lake. All too soon they had to return to the castle for Defense Against the Dark Arts. The Pellinores had been added to a class that was already doubled up, with the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

All of the students crowded around the door, waiting for the professor to arrive. Lily and Emmaline leaned against the wall in the back of the group, while Taran sat down on the floor and played tic-tac-toe on a spare bit of parchment. Starletta stared straight ahead, still ignoring the world.

Their professor marched down the hall. He was massive; it looked as if he had been chisled out of a mountain. His brown hair was beginning to silver, and had been shorn short, and his face was hard, with severe features, including a flat, round nose steely gray eyes. He wore tan robes, with a handsome silk ascot tucked into his beige jacket. His large boots had been recently polished, so that one could see reflections of the things that were near Professor Grant's feet.

His voice was deep and rumbling, commanding the attention of all.

"Silence. Please enter the classroom and take a seat. You will need your text book, a quill, and parchment."

The student filed into the classroom. A Slytherin boy pushed past them, stepping on Lily's foot and swinging his bag into Emma's arm.

"Oops," he said cruelly. Lily looked up, but Professor Grant hadn't noticed.

Because Lily and Emmaline were two of the last students to enter the room, their seating choices were rather limited. The only seats that were together were in the very front and center of the classroom.

Professor Grant waited until everyone was seated and had the proper supplies on their desks before he again spoke. "Open your textbooks to page three," Professor Grant ordered. "I want you all to read the paragraph on the top of the page, then answer the three questions below. Be prepared to share your answers with the rest of the class. When that is complete, we will practice the incantation. You will then individually attempt to cast the _lumos_ charm. Begin now."

Thinking that Defense Against the Dark Arts was going to be taught in a very boring style, Lily opened her copy of _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _and began reading.

_One of the most fundamental charms known to the wizarding world is the light charm. The incantation for the charm is _lumos (_LOO-mohs), from the Latin _lumen_, which means "light." There are three version of the charm, _Lumos Solem, Lumos Maxima, and Lumos Duo.

Lumos Solem- _creates a beam of intense sunlight  
_Lumos Maxima_- makes a massive ball of light at the end of the caster's wand which is so powerful it can be cast off from the end of the wand and continue on for several minutes afterward, floating in mid-air  
_Lumos Duo_- which creates a connection between the caster's wand and a creature or object_

_When correctly conjured, the light charm can be used for heat, in extreme cases even setting fire to objects. The countercharm for _lumos _is _nox(_noks), which will cause the end of the caster's wand to be extinguished.._

When she finished the reading, Lily looked down at the first question.

_1. Explain how each of the three variations of the _Lumos_ charm can be used in defense _

That was easy. She had heard lots of stories from her parents and aunts and uncles; she had plenty of ideas for this question. As her quill scratched against her parchment, she felt a warm goop strike the back of her neck. Soon she was enveloped in the familiar smell of a dung bomb. She turned around quickly. The seat behind her was filled by the same Slytherin boy who had stepped on her foot in the hallway. Now he grinned nastily at her.

"Hey!" Lily shouted, jumping up. A moment later, Professor Grant stood above her.

"Is there a problem, Miss…"

"Potter. Lily Potter. And yes, there is a problem. Someone put a dungbomb down my robes."

"Why would anyone do that?" he said stonily. "Besides, dungbombs are on Mr. Filch's lists of banned items."

"Do you think I did this to myself?" Lily protested. Professor Grant's eyes were cold as they appraised her, but he did not show any other signs of anger.

"Miss Potter," he said in a deep, steady voice. "Just who do you accuse of the crime?"

Lily pointed at the Slytherin boy. She didn't know his name. Professor Grant looked down at him.

"Zachary Tremble? Did you have something to do with this alleged dung bomb attack?"

"I didn't do it, Professor, I swear. I was just reading my book, right Wendell?" the boy said, nodding towards the boy who sat on his right.

"Well, Hughley?" Professor Grant asked, using the boy's surname.

"It's like he says, Sir. He was just reading, and Potter jumped up and started shouting at us."

"Since it is the first day, and you Pellinores have undoubtedly suffered a bit of shock, I will not dock points for your accusations. But please be advised, Miss Potter, I will not put up with disruptions in my classroom."

Lily nodded, looking down at her shoes. She should have known Professor Grant would believe the boys over her; he was the Head of Slytherin house.

"May I go change?" she asked meekly.

"Go," Professor Grant said. "Return when you've taken care of your- issues." He said it as if it was Lily's fault. She left the class feeling utterly scandalized. What did Professor Grant have against her? She hadn't done a thing but yell in class.

She was so absorbed in trying to figure this out that she did not notice her brother walking towards her until she had bashed into him.

"Sorry, James," she said.

"It's okay," he said, readjusting his school bag on his shoulder. He sniffed the air around her. "Aren't you supposed to be in Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Yes, well, I had to leave," Lily seethed, still angry. "Professor Grant was really … strict." She told James what had happened in class.

"I guess we should have warned you," James said, walking along beside her. "Don't mind Professor Grant. He was up for Head Auror, but Dad got his promotion instead; Grant takes it out on us kids."

"And he gets away with it?" Lily asked.

"We never said anything to the Headmistress. Grant grades fairly, and that's all that really counts, or so Dad says. Mum didn't even believe me when I told her."

"I have to get back to my room," Lily said wryly, wiping some more of the dung bomb off of her robes. James pointed his wand at her.

"_Scorgify_," he said steadily. Lily's robes were instantly cleaned.

"Thanks," she said appreciatively. She looked at her brother. "Wait a minute. How come you're not in class?"

"I'm supposed to be taking this note to the staff lounge," he said, holding out a folded parchment.

"You didn't get in trouble did you?" Lily asked.

"Not yet," James said ruffling her hair.

Not quite ready to return to class, Lily went to the nearest bathroom and brushed out her hair with her fingers. Then she braided it slowly. By the time she returned to Defense Against the Dark Arts, her fellow students were practicing the _lumos _charm. Lily slipped into her seat next to Emmaline just in time to see the tip of Bailey Longbottom's wand light up. Professor Grant did not pay Lily any more attention during the class period.

"I took notes for you," Emma told her as they left the room.

"Thanks," Lily said.

"You look tired," her friend told her.

"It's been a long day, so far," Lily said.

"but it's almost over," Emmaline said in a sing-song voice. Lily smiled. Their last class of the day was Transfiguration, taught by Hannah Longbottom. They were doubled up with the Hufflepuffs, who for the most part left them alone.

Professor Longbottom set them a very basic transfiguration, turning a match into a needle. While Emmaline made a triangle out of her three needles, Lily only succeeded in making the end of her match pointy.

"You'll get the hang of it," her friend assured her.

When Lily sunk into her seat for supper, she was exhausted. Emmaline, on the other hand, looked radiant. "I never dreamed that there was so much to learn," she said. "When Professor Malone told us about the memory potion! Do you think we'll get to brew it?"

"I don't know," Lily said absently. She looked up at the container that contained their house points. There were now some glittering violet jewels. With a swell of pride, she realized that some of those were

She was able to stay awake long enough to write to her parents. It was a rambling letter, and Lily nearly fell asleep with her quill in hand.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_My first day of class was ok. I really like potions. My partner and I brewed the best Laugh-Inducing Draught today. _

_I miss you both. It's really weird to be so far away, but my brothers have been wonderful. Since Starletta Swipt's family disowned her, her brother hasn't spoken a single word to her. James and Albus are bothering me every chance they get. I don't really mind; it's comforting to see them so often. I'm really glad that they're here. Don't tell them I said that._

_It's also nice to have Emmaline Winkleworth as a friend. She's muggle born, so she has a million questions, but she sees the whole Pellinore situation differently than I do. We make a good team._

_On Saturday, we're going to go have tea at Hagrid's. James and Al said I could bring Emma along, and I think Bailey will come too. I'm looking forward to it._

_I'm really sleepy, so I'm going to go to bed. I'll write again soon._

_Love, _

_Lily_


	5. Comings and Goings

**Lily Potter and the Secret of Pellinore**

**Chapter 5: Comings and Goings**

At supper on Thursday, a Hufflepuff fourth year, a girl named Nancy Neetle, tried a spell to turn her dull brown hair to a fiery shade of red. The spell went awry, and it took six water-spurting wands to put out the resulting fire. Miraculously, Nancy emerged unscathed, though her once long hair had to be trimmed tragically short. To add insult to injury, her remaining hair was still brown.

Other than this incident, the rest of Lily's first week at Hogwarts passed without too much excitement. She found that she really liked charms, and flying lessons were great fun. She was too sleepy to remember most of what had happened during her midnight astronomy class, but she liked the parts that were not fuzzy in her memory. Despite having missed a good part of her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Lily found that she was able to keep up, and she managed to stay out of trouble by keeping silent in the next class. She spent the week learning her way around the castle and looking forward to visiting Hagrid on the weekend.

The windows in the Pellinore rooms were enchanted, just like the ceiling in the Grand Hall. On Saturday morning, sunshine flooded in, inviting the students outdoors. Lily's brothers were waiting for her at the entrance to the Pellinore common room. She could hear them bellowing for her when she left the washroom.

"This bloody gate won't let me through!" James's voice echoed down the stairs.

"That means you're not special ," Lily called to him, taking the stairs two at a time. As the gate closed behind her, James pretended to pout.

"That's not what Mum says."

Albus ignored him. "Is Emmaline coming?" he asked Lily.

"Nope," she said with a shake of her head. "She's decided to stay in and write to her parents. She claims she doesn't want to intrude on us, but I think she's homesick."

"She'll be okay, so long as you're nicer to her than you are to me," James said as they made their way down the transfiguration hallway. Albus pressed a stack of toast into Lily's hand.

"I thought we were having breakfast at Hagrid's," she said in confusion.

"Not all of Hagrid's food is strictly edible," Albus explained.

"It's _okay_," James insisted with a wry smile.

"Last year I found a whole chicken foot in my stew!" Al said.

"At least, he hopes it was a chicken," James whispered loudly. Lily laughed. _This_ was what she had expected from Hogwarts: spending time with her brothers, laughing and playing.

They met Rose and Hugo outside, and they all raced each other down the hill. It wasn't long before the five of them were bunched around Hagrid's table, each with their own very large mug of tea.

"Blimey, Lily. It's good to have all three of the Potters at Hogwarts. And Hugo, you look so like yer mum. Coffeecake?"

Hagrid passed a pie pan around. Grandma Molly made delicious coffeecake, all brown and crispy on the top. Hagrid's was questionable, to say the least.

Lily took a small piece, noting that it was slightly green. Albus noticed this too, and attempted to pass entirely.

"Just want to make sure there's enough to go around," he said in excuse.

"Nonsense!" Hagrid said, plopping a large spoonful on Albus's plate, causing the boy to turn slightly green, just like the coffeecake.

"Th-thanks," he said. His tone was unconvincing, but Hagrid didn't seem to notice.

Hugo and James ate enthusiastically. Lily, not sure that this was a testament to the taste of the coffee cake, followed Rose's approach, taking a small bite to make sure it was safe before she ate more.

"So how do you like Hogwarts so far?" Lily shrugged. Hogwarts was just fine when she was with her family, but her house situation- that was delicate. Her friendship with Emmaline was great, but Taran and Starletta were still keeping to themselves. And then there were the other students. They didn't all hate the Pellinores, but it was as if they didn't know how to react. For the most part, they grew quiet when Lily or one of the others passed. Lily was trying to decide whether she should tell Hagrid about the dung bomb incident. She was spared having to answer by her bouncing, excited cousin.

"It's great," Hugo said. "I like Peeves. He scattered about four thousand gobstones in the hallway outside of my charms class yesterday. Even with the gathering charm that Professor Flitwick taught us, it took an hour to pick them all up."

"What about you, Lily?"

"I love the castle," Lily said, hoping that if she talked enough, Hagrid would forget to ask about her house. "Rose showed me the library, and my brothers took me to the Quidditch pitch and the lake. We might even go swimming later."

"Them purple robes fit alright?" Hagrid asked. Lily's heart fell.

"They're fine." She tried to find something nice to say about being a Pellinore. "I like our common room; it's cozy. It's kind of neat that no one else has ever used it before. And I do appreciate being able to sit down without worrying about Uncle George's whoopee cushions."

"How 'bout yer classes?"

"They're okay," Lily said.

Rose seemed to sense that Lily was uncomfortable with this line of questioning. "Hagrid, tell Lily and Hugo a story about Mum and Dad and Uncle Harry," she said, setting down her fork.

Lily shot Rose a grateful look as Hagrid sprung into a thrilling tale. Lily had no doubt that it was founded in truth, but it had been greatly embellished. She knew that her father had surprised everyone by becoming the seeker for Gryffindor's quidditch team in his first year.

Hagrid's story had a young Harry Potter flying through a rainstorm while dodging rogue pixies, various curses, and vicious dragons, and spectacularly snatching the golden snitch and win the Quidditch Cup from the Slytherins by only ten points.

"That was a great story, Hagrid," Lily said when he was finished.

"Yeah," Albus agreed happily, patting the head of Hagrid's shaggy wolfhound. Hagrid had been so involved in telling his story that he hadn't noticed when Albus fed his coffeecake to Claw. When Lily thought about it, she realized that Claw had chosen to sit near Albus from the beginning. Now she knew why.

…

Lily and her brothers did go swimming that afternoon. They splashed in the lake until it was starting to get dark. Then they sloshed back up to the castle, their clothes dripping along the way.

James was leading the way through the corridors when they heard a sinister voice drift around a corner.

"Don't worry, we'll get them all, starting with Little Miss Potter."

"Yeah, those silly little Pellinores are going to regret the day they came to this school!"

Lily balled her hands into fists, clutching her fingers so hard that her nails dug into her palms. Hearing the smooth voices made her very angry. Albus looked at James.

"We need to take care of this," he said, pushing Lily into a opening between a statue and the wall.

"Duck down and stay still," James said firmly. He threw a cloak over her. Lily shrunk into the gap, hugging her knees close to her chest.

Three Slytherins came around the corner. Two of them, a boy and a girl, were older, but one was a first year; Lily recognized Zachary Tremble's sneer.

"Oh look," the older girl said. "Potters in the hallway. And they're all wet."

"What happened?" the boy added. "Fall in the toilet bowl again?"

"Shut up, Duvall," Albus hissed.

"Where's your sister? Cavorting with the other mutants?"

"If you think we're going to stand back and let you haze her, you've got another thing coming to you," James said. "She's our sister."

"It's got nothing to do with her being your sister. She's a freak. They all are. Hogwarts will be better once they're gone."

"What do you mean by gone?" Albus coldly demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Potter?" A new voice said. The boy that joined them was tall and thin. He sported shiny grayish-brown hair and icy blue eyes.

"Gillings," James said. "What are you doing here? Ringleading?"

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, that's it," James retorted. "I'm jealous of your pointed nose and overbite."

"Hmph," Gillings said. "We already told you to bud out. You two, while terribly annoying, are true students at Hogwarts."

"Leave the Pellinores alone," James said firmly. "They didn't do anything to you, or to anyone else, so just leave them alone."

"Who's going to make us?" Gillings spat. "In case you haven't noticed, you and your brother seem to be the only ones who stick up for them. Maybe we should just send you two packing as well. Get rid of all the Potters. That would make the school a better place."

"Do you honestly think that any of them would be Pellinores if they could have chosen their houses?" Albus insisted.

"No, you're right. It's not their fault. I believe the blame goes back further in history. Things could be very different, if only Lord Voldemort had managed to do his job and kill your pathetic father!"

James and Albus both fired curses at the same time, but Gillings was ready for them. He ducked out of the way, turning to bring up his own wand. James's stretching jinx hit Zachary Tremble instead. He shot up, suddenly several feet taller than everyone around him.

With a start, Lily remembered the cloak that James and thrown over her. It was curious that she could see through it. She looked down at her own legs and feet, but couldn't see them. This was her father's invisibility cloak. Without wondering how James got it, Lily got to her knees, starting to formulate a plan to help her outnumbered brothers.

When the Slytherin girl got close to her hiding spot, Lily reached out from beneath the cloak and grasped her ankle. She tumbled to the ground, still calling out a curse that ricocheted off of the wall and hit Albus, giving him a long, striped tail.

"Melofoes!" James shouted, encasing one boy's head in a pumpkin.

A newcomer pointed his wand at Albus. James slammed into the Slytherin, punching him squarely in the jaw. His curse hit Gerrard Duvall, making his shoes stick to the floor. Albus disarmed this boy and sent a knotting charm towards his shoelaces, leaving him where he stood. Al then turned towards Gillings and shouted "Ventus!" A jet of air shot out of his wand, blowing Gillings to the ground.

Duvall struggled out of his shoes as two more Slytherin boys ran to their aid. A few moments later James was disarmed and pinned to the wall, punches raining down on him, while Albus was still trading curses and jinxes.

Lily's hand found her wand and she racked her brain for a spell that would be of use. She hadn't learned many in her first short week of school. She thinking so hard that she didn't notice the footsteps of Mr. Filch as he came around the corner, took in the fight, then turned and ran for help.

Finally, Lily remembered a charm that might help. It was the same one that had collected the marbles that Peeves scattered. Hopefully, it would gather the Slytherins into a group. She stood, making sure that she was still covered by the invisibility cloak.

Albus seemed to realize that Lily was about to help. He looked apologetically in her direction. "Petrificus totalus!" Lily stiffened, falling to the ground. Mercifully, the cloak still covered her completely. She was going to get Albus for this. From the position into which she had fallen, Lily had a good view of the fight. Most of the bullies had forgotten that they had wands when James landed the first punch. Now they all flew at each other with fists and kicks.

Lily's brothers put up a good struggle, but there were simply too many Slytherins for them to beat on their own. They now had Al pinned to the wall. The others were gathered around James, each kicking him in turn. Lily tried to yell out for help, but the curse stilled her tongue.

Suddenly there was a feeling of heavy magic and a shrill voice filled the hallway.

"YOU WILL DESIST IMMEDIATELY!" Professor McGonagall had arrived. She waved her wand and the students levitated until they were in a row, still frozen in the various fighting positions. "I am absolutely appalled at the behavior that I have just witnessed. You all completely disregarded the rules. I will deduct thirty points from each of your houses- that's thirty for each of one you.

"Now, I am going to release the freezing spell, and you will go with your head of house so that they may further your punishment." She regarded the very tall Zachary Tremble, tail-bearing Albus and the boy who still had a pumpkin where his head should be. "Except for you three. You will go to the infirmary."

McGonagall waved her wand again and the fighters became animate, rubbing various bruises as Gryffindors and Slytherins separated. Lily watched them all leave, even her brothers, though they went hesitantly. The Headmistress was fuming with anger. None of the students wanted to take a chance of agitating her further.

Soon Lily was alone, lying beneath the invisibility cloak on the cold castle floor.

…..

"I laid in that stupid corridor for two hours before Professor McGonagall came for me! And both of my brothers are in huge trouble, because she found out about the invisibility cloak." Lily yanked off her shoes and threw them on the floor, her anger exaggerating the motions.

"Did Professor McGonagall give you detention too?" Emma asked, climbing into bed. She had a book in one hand, and the other was stroking the fur on Darcy's tail.

"Not after I told her that I was an innocent bystander," Lily said. Her dirty clothes joined her shoes on the floor, and she tugged her nightgown over her head. "But I wouldn't have been, if Al hadn't immobilized me. I'm so mad at him!"

"He was just trying to protect you. They both were," Emma said. "In a way, it's kind of nice. I always wished I had a big brother."

A tiny part of Lily's brain acknowledged that what Emma said made sense, but Lily was still too mad to properly process it. Sighing, she punched down her pillow and went to sleep.

…..

When Lily entered the Great Hall on Sunday morning, she found that the Pellinore table was already occupied, though her housemates were still asleep. Her brothers and all of her cousins had taken over.

Lily's irritation at her brothers grew. She stomped over to James.

"So what is this? Did you convince them all to become Pellinores? Or is it an armed escort so that I can eat my breakfast without being jinxed by Zachary Tremble and his team of terrible, scary Slytherins?"

"Lily, it's just breakfast," Molly said, adjusting her glasses. "We're mostly in different years and we have different friends, so we do this every Sunday."

"It's kind of an extension of Family Day at home," Dominique added. Family Day was something that Grandma Molly insisted upon. At least twice a month the whole family got together for supper.

"Oh," Lily said, feeling silly. She took the open spot between Rose and Louis. A comfortable mood fell over the table, and Lily embraced it. Hearing her cousins talk about their first week back at school was familiar. Hugo told his gobstone story again, and then Molly and James argued over the Quidditch standings for the year.

"I might call an impromptu practice this afternoon, if the pitch isn't reserved," Molly said, looking up at the enchanted ceiling.

"Well I won't be there. I'll be scrubbing down the owlery every Sunday afternoon from now until Halloween," James grumbled. That comment started discussion of the previous evening's fight. James and Al gave a blow-by-blow account of the battle and its aftermath. "Not only do I have perpetual detentions, but Professor McGonagall is sending Dad's invisibility cloak home. I'm going to get it when Mum finds out."

"Well you shouldn't have hidden me under it," Lily said. "Or Al should have let me help with the fight."

"I don't really want to talk about it," Al said. "I don't know when I'm going to find time to open Mum's Howler, between detention and homework."

"Speaking of homework," Rose said. She was met with several groans. "I think we should-"

"Oh, come on, Rose. Give us a few weeks before you start in with SMART," James complained. Hugo shared Lily's confused look.

"What does SMART stand for?" he asked his sister.

"Saturday Morning Appointment for Revolting Torture," Freddie mumbled.

"It's Revising and Tutoring," Rose said crossly. "And I didn't hear you complaining when you passed your Divination exam last year, Fred."

"Yeah, but it's the first weekend back," James complained. Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine, James, don't come. But when your homework isn't done and you get yet another detention, I don't want to hear about it." She punctuated her words with a shake of her fork.

Twenty minutes later, Lily was back in her dormitory, stuffing her potions book into her bag.

Emmaline looked up from the book she was reading. "Where are you going?" she asked curiously.

"To the library. My cousins are going to study together. I'm going to finish that nasty History of Magic essay. Do you want to come along?"

"Sure," Emma said brightly. She seemed a lot more cheerful than she had when Lily had left her earlier that morning. An open envelope sat beside her on the bed. Lily suspected that it was the source of her friend's rekindled happiness.

"Did you get a letter?" Lily asked as they started to pack Emma's school things into her messenger bag.

"Yep. From my mom and dad. And my dad sent me a camera. He wants me to take some pictures," Emma said. "You'll help me, right?"

"Sure. We can make copies for my mum. She'll love it," Lily agreed, taking her pygmy puff out of its cage and settling him on her shoulder. "Ready?"

"Let me just get a fresh quill. I've worn this one out," Emma said, opening a drawer in the desk. Lily looked towards Starletta's bed.

She had the curtains pulled halfway, and her school books were spread all around her. "Starletta, would you like to come with us to the library?" Lily asked. The other girl looked up, startled, and then shook her head and returned to her work.

Lily shrugged and turned to greet Rose, who had accompanied her to collect her things.

"Those are some really interesting books out there," she said pointing towards the common room with one thumb over her shoulder.

"I've already gone through three of them. They're fascinating," Emma said, holding up _101 Magical Mysteries_, and then placing it on her headboard for later.

"Remind me to come down here when I finish the stack next to my bed," Rose said. She looked at Lily and Emma. "Ready?"

Lily nodded, then turned to Starletta. "Well, if you change your mind…" She let the sentence dangle, following Rose and Emma into the common room. They arrived just in time to see Taran unceremoniously dump a stack of books onto one of the tables. He ignored the girls, sitting down with a potions form before him.

Emma and Lily looked at each other and shrugged. They continued on towards their destination. They were halfway down the potions hallway when Emmaline suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

"I think we should ask Taran if he wants to come along," Emma said. When Lily gave her a disgusted look, she added, "You asked Starletta."

"I like Starletta," Lily countered. "Taran is mean without a reason."

"I thought that Professor Longbottom said we should try to get along with him anyways," Emma said, sounding very much like Lily's mother.

"Ok, fine, invite him," Lily said, stifling a groan. Emma bit her lip.

"But he's mean," she said softly. Now Lily did groan.

"Fine, _I'll _invite him, but you owe me." Emma nodded her agreement, and Lily dropped her bag on the floor and took off running, back down the transfiguration hallway. She hastily solved the puzzle and muttered the password to get into the Pellinore common room. Taran was sitting in the same spot where she'd left him.

He hadn't done anything to his potion form, save draw a fox on the bottom of it.

"What do you want?" Taran spoke without looking up from the snake he was penning in the fox's mouth.

"A bunch of us are going to do homework in the library. My cousin Louis is a genius in potions. You can join us if you want."

Taran looked up at her blankly. Lily sighed.

"You know what, come, don't come. I don't even care," she said shortly. "But this new house is never going to work unless we pull it together."

Taran went back to drawing stripes on the snake, and Lily turned away, shaking her head. She went back to the spot where she was had left Rose and Emmaline. Her bag was still lying on the corridor floor, propped against a wall, but it had been abandoned.

Annoyed that Rose and Emma had not waited for her, Lily bent to retrieve her stuff. As she straightened, Rose came out of a nearby classroom.

"What are you doing in there?" Lily asked, confused.

"Emma just disappeared," Rose said tensely.

"What do you mean she disappeared?" Lily looked down the hall in both directions.

"I mean disappeared, vanished, dissipated, dropped out of sight!"

"Ok, ok, I get it," Lily said, dismissing her cousin's tirade with a wave of her hand. "Did she go in one of the classrooms?"

"No. I checked them, but I don't know why I did. I saw her disappear. She was standing right there," Rose said, pointing to a spot on the floor. "She got kind of glittery around the edge, and then she just kind of faded away.

"What, like she Disapparated?"

"No, I've seen people Apparate all the time, and this wasn't anything like that." Lily looked around the hall again.

"Do you think she's invisible?" she asked Rose. Rose bit her lip.

"I guess she could be," she said, but her voice lack conviction.

"Emma? Are you there?" she called, walking a few paces down the hall. Rose grabbed her arm.

"Lily, I think we need to get Professor McGonagall."


	6. Emmaline's Visit

**Chapter 6: Emmaline's Visit**

The rest of Sunday was filled with questions. Lily and Rose were practically interrogated by a number of professors, but no one had been able to figure out what had happened to Emmaline. Concerned for Lily's safety, Harry and Ginny Potter had made another visit to the school. Harry put his auror skills to work, examining the hall which Emmaline had disappeared from, questioning Rose and Lily, and doing a general sweep of the school. This time as he left, Lily didn't cry, though she did not know whether this was because she was getting used to these partings, or because her father had distracted her with a ragged piece of parchment.

"This is the Marauder's Map," he said, and quietly explained what it did. Now Lily had a way to search the castle for her friend without actually searching.

By the time Lily was able to get to bed it was quite late. She hadn't touched her homework. Defense Against the Dark Arts was the first class she had the next morning, but Lily couldn't even bring herself to glance over the article that Professor Grant had assigned, _Light Charms as a Defense Against Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder_. At the moment that she climbed into her bed, she didn't care about homework one bit. She was asleep before her head even touched the pillow.

The morning, gloomy, damp and gray, came all too quickly. Lily slept in and missed breakfast, but she made it to Defense Against the Dark Arts right on time. She usually sat with Emmaline, but given the circumstances, she would have to choose another seat. One was open next to Zachary Tremble, but Lily refused to even entertain the thought of sitting there. She gave a sigh of relief when Bailey Longbottom grabbed her arm and half-dragged her to an empty desk.

Professor Grant arrived and led the class in a discussion about the article that Lily hadn't read, but she was too distracted to pay attention. She could not believe how quickly the school had gone back to normal after Emmaline's disappearance. She wished she'd had time to check the Marauder's Map that morning, but it was a struggle just to get to class. She resolved to have a look at it on the way to Charms.

Lily's thoughts were interrupted when a shadow fell across the desk. Professor Grant stood just above her. "Is there a special reason that I have repeated my question three times and I've yet to receive an answer, Miss Potter?"

Lily wasn't sure what to say. She had no idea what the professor had asked her, and he was standing too close for Bailey to whisper a clue in her ear. She stammered a response.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I was up late with Professor Longbottom looking for Emmaline, and I didn't finish reading the article-"

"That's no excuse," he snapped. "5 points from Pellinore. Perhaps if you spent less time brawling in the hallways, you might have completed your reading. "

In the excitement she had all but forgotten about Saturday night's fight and the 180 points that Professor McGonagall taken from Slytherin. She realized that with Professor Grant's current mood, he would have a problem with whatever answer she gave him.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled again, and Professor Grant moved on to a different victim. Bailey wrote "tough luck" on the bottom of her parchment and showed it to Lily, who just took a deep breath and forced herself to pay attention.

She was flooded with relief when the class was finally dismissed, though Professor Grant had assigned them a thirteen-inch essay on the different versions of the _Lumos _charm that they had been studying. She waved goodbye to Bailey and exited the classroom as quickly as she could. As she hurried down the hall, she passed Albus, who's next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Good luck," Lily said. "He's disgusted about the house points that Slytherin lost the other night."

Albus smiled grimly. "I'd expected as much. Thanks for the warning. I'll make sure to sit behind Southeby there," he said, pointing to a Hufflepuff mountain of a boy. Lily put her hand into her pocket and fingered the edge of the scrap of parchment that was the Marauder's Map. She was dying to look it over once again, but her dad had sworn her to a set of rules that came with the use of the map, and one of them was that she wasn't to tell a soul that she had it, especially her brothers.

"I hope Emma turns up soon," Albus said. "I'll help you look, if you want."

"Thanks, Al," Lily said. "I don't think I'll be allowed to do too much looking. In fact, I think Professor McGonagall is considering hiring an auror to follow the rest of us Pellinores around, to make sure we don't get into any trouble."

"If one more weird thing happens to you lot, Dad'll be sending one himself," Al said. A tall boy stuck his head out of the door.

"Come on, Al," he called. "We've got enough time for a quick round of gobstones."

"Coming, Sean," Albus told him, giving Lily a shrug. With a quick goodbye, Lily parted ways with her brother and headed for the Charms hallway, making a brief detour in the girl's bathroom to nip into a stall and check the Maraduer's Map. It was full of students, but none of them were Emma.

Charms was lonely for Lily, who usually partnered with Emmaline for their assignments. Now Professor Flitwick set her to work with Taran and Starletta, practicing a charm that made an object bounce steadily. The only sound coming from the group were soft incantations and tapping of three papayas against the table. Potions was less stressful, but only because Lily got to work with Kyle Barkley instead of the other Pellinores.

Lily was happy to escape to lunch. She sat with Rose, as her housemates had taken their usual seats at opposite ends of the Pellinore table. As the meal progressed, Lily got more and more irritated with their attitudes. Emmaline was the only Pellinore who had no qualms about being a Pellinore. She actually _liked_ it. Though it had barely been 24 hours, Lily was finding it very hard to maintain a positive outlook on the experience without Emma.

She waited until the last Hufflepuff had filtered out of the Great Hall, leaving Taran and Starletta in their usual spots at opposite ends of the Pellinore table. Lily stood in the walkway between them, arms crossed. "I do not understand how two you think sulking will help anything," she said shortly, using a voice that would carry to both of her housemates.

"What's the point of pretending everything is normal? We're not exactly winning any popularity contests," Taran said stiffly, getting up from the table. "I'm just here to learn magic and get away from my mum."

Lily blinked at him as he walked away, then decided not to press him further. She turned to Starletta, desire for confrontation still burning inside her. "How about you? Any special reasons why you won't try to make this work?"

"Excuse me if I don't feel much like chatting and making friends just now," Starletta snapped.

"I get it, Starletta. You and I were both sorted into Pellinore, instead of the house that the rest of our families are in. We're going through the same thing." Starletta's eyes flashed, and she jumped up from her seat.

"How can you even say that?" she yelled, striding towards Lily. "You _don't_ get it. Your father is Harry Potter! When he found out that you were in Pellinore, he didn't disown you. He accepted it. He even came here to make sure that you were okay, _twice_. He cares about you."

"Your dad loves you too, Starletta," Lily said.

"No," Starletta said calmly. "He does not. He wouldn't have sent that Howler if he did. My father cares more about our family's name then about our individual well-being, and my brother follows my father's every whim. Sometimes, I can't even tell them apart. And my mother, she just stood by and let this all happen, like she always does. So don't you _dare_ try to tell me that you know what I'm going through, because you _don't_. I don't have a family anymore, and there is nothing you can do about it."

Lily felt completely gobsmacked. She was speechless. She stood there gawking while Starletta grabbed her sweater off the table and rushed out of the Great Hall, tears sparkling in her eyes. When Lily saw her in History of Magic, she sat straight and prim, head never turning away from Professor Binns. Lily couldn't pay attention in any of her classes that afternoon. Instead she let Starletta's words soak in. She had seen no evidence that Starletta's family gave two sickles about her. She had a hard time grasping the concept of a family that did not love. Her own last name might have been Potter, but the Potters were simply a subdivision of the Weasleys. Whatever the last name, the entire family was large and loud and obnoxious, and they proclaimed their love for each other at every occasion. She felt a nagging shame for Starletta's situation.

…..

Determined not to have another Defense Against the Dark Arts class like the one that morning, Lily brought her essay to supper that night. She worked while she ate, the rain on the ceiling setting a background noise to tune out the chatter that was all around her. It even shut off the part of her brain that wouldn't let go of her conversation with Starletta. Soon Lily was completely engrossed in her homework. She barely noticed when the hall grew quiet. She didn't look up until James whistled shrilly from the Gryffindor table.

Hagrid had come into the Great Hall, soaked from the rain. In his arms he carried his jacket, gathered into a bundle with two legs sticking out. Lily yelped when she recognized Emmaline's sneakers and polka-dotted knee socks. She jumped up and walked beside her father's large friend.

"Emma? Is she okay, Hagird?"

The headmistress bustled down from the dias, towards the half-giant. "Hagrid, you should have taken her to the hospital wing," she hissed. "Think of the other children."

"I'm alright, Professor McGonagall," Emmaline said, struggling to sit up in the nest of coat. In one hand she clutched her wand, and in the other, a long, fancy quill. "I'm just a bit soggy."

"Found her on a rock 'en the middle o' the lake," Hagrid said. "Would've missed her, if she hadn't lit her wand." Professor McGonagall looked frazzled.

…..

A quarter of an hour later, the Pellinores were gathered around the fireplace in their common room. Lily had lent Emmaline her warmest Christmas sweater, and she had been dried and seated in the chair closest to the fire. A tray hovered beside her, keeping a bowl of soup and a cup of cocoa within easy reach. The quill sat on a table in the center of the group.

"Now, Miss Winkleworth, please tell us what happened," Professor McGonagall said, settling nearby. Emma sat up

"I was in the corridor with Lily and Rose and all of a sudden I started seeing black. The darkness grew and grew until I was surrounded by it. I lost contact with all my senses; I'm not sure how long that lasted. The first thing I remember was smelling damp earth. I thought maybe I was in the greenhouse. Then I thought to use the _lumos _charm, and when I had some light I realized that I was in a tunnel.

"I couldn't really see anything to do but walk. Eventually I came out into a great reception hall in a castle. It looked just like Hogwarts, only it was decorated like it would have been in the Middle Ages, with a throne and tapestries and stuff. There was only one person there, sitting on the throne."

"Who was it?" Professor Longbottom prodded gently. Emmaline pointed to the painting above the fireplace, the portrait of Petranne Pellinore.

"She was waiting for me. She even knew my name." Professor McGonagall's eyebrows furrowed even further, and she pursed her lips. Lily could tell that she was not used to dealing with problems that she did not understand.

"What did she say to you?"

"She said that Hogwarts has been waiting for me, and Taran, and Starletta, and Lily to come to school, because we are the first rightful Pellinores, and our house is going to complete Hogwarts in time. Then she gave me that," Emma said, pointing her soup spoon towards the quill.

"Why would you want a musty old feather?" Taran asked. Lily glanced down at the quill. A long, fluffy purple feather had been fitted into a nib that was encrusted with amethysts. It looked like something that royalty would have owned. Professor McGonagall was the next to speak.

"That 'musty old feather' could be important for a great many reasons, both good and bad. We'll have to give it a good look over."

"How long will you keep it?" Lily asked.

"As long as is needed," Professor McGonagall said. Then she looked Lily up and down. "Has anyone ever told you that you remind them of your father?"

Lily smiled as Neville Longbottom directed another question to Emmaline. "Did Pellinore say anything else after she gave you the quill?"

"Only that she would be visiting the other Pellinores as well." Lily's amusement faded at the idea that she could disappear at any moment. It was scary to think that she might be going about her day, and then all of a sudden would be taken to another place, maybe even another time.

"This does not make any sense," Professor McGonagall said. She was pacing now, and she didn't seem to be talking to anyone specific. "Apparition is not possible on school grounds, and yet this woman seems to be able to pluck my students right out from under my nose on whim..."

"After that I disappeared again, and the next thing I knew I was on that rock in lake in the middle of a storm," Emmaline finished.

"I am certainly glad that Hagrid noticed you," Professor Longbottom said. "It was smart thinking to get his attention with your wand."

"I might have tried swimming, if it wasn't dark and rainy," Emma said. It was quiet for a long time. Lily wished that her life at school was simple. She'd like to hand in completed homework once in awhile.

"We will have to make a plan for if the rest of you go missing," Professor McGonagall said at last. "For now, go nowhere alone, and if one of you disappears, the rest must make sure to get word back to me." She extracted a promise from each of them, then she and Professor Longbottom bid them goodnight. The headmistress still looked flustered, and as they disappeared up the stairs, Lily heard her say that this year might just do her in.

…..

Emma went to bed fairly early and Taran escaped to the library to avoid the girls. That left Lily and Starletta sitting at tables in the Common Room, each with a quill scratching across parchment. The evening's excitement had worn off, and Lily's was able to finish her essay. With a sigh of relief she sat back and stretched her arms above her head. Her happiness was short-lived, as her thoughts immediately jumped once more to her conversation with her housemate.

Pausing briefly to wonder what it would be like to have only one problem at a time, Lily moved to share Starletta's table. After a moment she spoke. "You're right. I don't know what it's like to lose my family, and I can't imagine what that would be like. But remember what Professor Flitwick said, the first night we were here? Your house is your home at school. We might not be the most traditional family, or the most close-knit, but we can be there for each other. It'll be okay." Starletta shook her head.

"Maybe at Hogwarts it will be. But what happens at Christmas, or in the summer, when everyone goes home?" Lily tried not to let her anger resurface at dark-haired girl's determination to see the negative in everything.

"You'll come home with me," she said calmly. "Or Emma. We won't let you be alone, Starletta." Starletta sighed, inspecting the polish on her fingernails.

"Look, I'll think about it, but I'm not ready to give up on my family just yet," Starletta said finally.

"That I do understand," Lily said. "They _are_ your family, and no one has more of that than I do." Starletta smiled softly, then snapped shut the copy of _Illuminating Your Life: 67 Everyday Uses for Light Charms _that she had been referencing for her essay.

"I've had enough for one day," she said. "Let's go to bed."

…..

They did not have to wait long to find out who would visit Petranne Pellinore next; it was barely a week before Taran vanished during supper. Though there was no panic, Headmistress McGonagall patrolled the edge of the lake. To her frustration, Taran did not reappear there, but at the top of the astronomy tower. He had a bronze coin in his hand, an ancient king stamped on one side. McGonagall took this, to examine along with Emmaline's quill. When McGonagall pressed Taran for details, he scowled, jerking a thumb towards Emmaline. "It happened just like she said."

In the beginning of October it was Starletta's turn. When she was found (Pellinore left her at the edge of the Forbidden Forest), she carried the tarnished silver mirror from the Sorting Hat's song. This quickly joined the quill and the coin.

After Starletta's safe return, Lily became increasingly nervous about her own impending visit with Petranne Pellinore. She kept imagining that her vision was clouding, or her fingers were tingling. Once, she even hexed James, though it was an accident. He should have known better than to sneak up behind her and poke her in the neck; he deserved the unicorn horn that grew out of his right cheek for the rest of the day. The more time that passed, the jumpier Lily got.

Finally, six days before Halloween, Lily woke up in the middle of the night to find herself in the tunnel that Emmaline had described. She shook slightly, looking around at the dirt walls and the pebbled path. She suddenly wondered why she was so afraid. Her housemates had all been through this and survived. Her father was Harry _bloody_ Potter. He fought Voldemort. Her mother held her own at a Hogwarts run by Death Eaters. And their daughter quaked in fear at a tunnel.

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Determinedly, she took a step forward.


	7. Lost and Found

**Chapter 7: Lost and Found**

Everything was just as the other Pellinores had described it. Lily passed through the tunnel into a grand reception hall. Petranne Pellinore sat on a gilded throne, looking every bit as regal and enchanting as she did in her portrait at Hogwarts.

Her chocolate-colored locks were parted beneath a circlet, with two sections braided and hanging over her shoulders. Her gown was made of deep purple silk, with a square neckline. Part of the draping skirt was pinned away, revealing a lilac gown underneath. Gold and bronze necklaces were draped around her neck in varying lengths.

"Hello Lily," she said sweetly. Her voice was soft and melodic. Lily found herself wishing she could hear the lady sing. She also wished that she knew how to curtsy, but it was not something that had ever come up in the Potter household. Besides, she would look pretty silly curtsying when she wore little more than a ratty, oversized Chudley Cannons t-shirt. She had stolen it from her Uncle Ron on a long-ago sleepover, and it was very long on her. She had forgone her shorts when she went to bed that night, a mistake she would not make again. It would be a long time before she forgot the sensation of standing in a drafty hall in nothing but a shirt and underpants.

"Hello," she said at last. She looked around the hall. It felt very familiar. The ceiling was shaped just like the Great Hall at school, though it was not enchanted. "Is this Hogwarts?"

"It is Hogwarts as I knew it," Petranne said. "My father bequeathed the castle to me. I, in turn, gave it to the founders of Hogwarts."

"You knew them? Godric Gryffindor and the others?" Lily asked, fascinated. She was sure that even her Aunt Hermione had never run across this perspective of Hogwarts history.

"Yes, I did. Godric's father was one of my father's knights, and a good friend as well." The room fell silent, and Lily felt a chill creeping into her toes.

"I don't mean to be rude, but why am I here? Why did you pick me and Starletta and Emma?" She asked the question mostly to distract herself from the cold.

"You forgot the boy," Pellinore said with a twinkling laugh. She stood and swept to a small door. "Come with me, Lily. It's much warmer in here."

The room they went into was a small study, warmed by a roaring fire. Lily stood near the hearth.

"_I_ didn't pick you to be in Pellinore; the Sorting Hat did. When the hat was enchanted we each told the hat what qualities we were looking for in our students. You and the other three are the first who have matched all of the criteria I set."

"What were the criteria?" Lily asked. Petranne smiled sweetly.

"You'll find out in time. For now, I wanted to meet all of you and give you each a keepsake that may be of use to you in time."

"You mean the quill, the coin, and the mirror?" Pellinore nodded. She went over to the large desk and opened one of the drawers.

"They are all very pretty, but I don't see how they will be of use in our time. How will we know what we're supposed to do with them?"

"You are a bit more inquisitive than the others," Petranne said, smiling sweetly.

"Is that bad?" Lily asked.

"No. The four of you complement each other quite nicely, from your dispositions to your various strengths in magic. The first thing you have to do is learn to work together. It will be very important in the future."

"Do you have plans for our futures?" Lily asked, not sure that she liked that idea.

"A few," Petranne said elusively. "I need help that can only be provided by Pellinores. I hope that the Sorting Hat will identify more students to help you in coming years. But it all starts with you four, and you, my dear, are the most likely to be able to get everyone together. That is to be your first task, Lily Potter: unite the Pellinores."

"Okay," Lily said uncertainly.

"Now, your gift." Petranne pulled a long, flat parcel out of the desk drawer. She unfolded one flap to the left, then another to the right, and finally one each to the top and the bottom. The parcel contained a dazzling sapphire pendant. The bauble was attached to a bright golden chain. When Lily looked closely it appeared as though tiny fish-shaped amethysts were swimming around inside the sapphire.

"This was my mother's, and my grandmothers before her. Goblin-made, isn't it lovely? It has special powers that only your specific talents will be able to unlock."

"My headmistress will not like that," Lily said vaguely, watching the tiny fish. She was mesmerized with them, and didn't look away until Petranne wrapped the necklace in the satchel once more.

"Your headmistress will be able to tell that no dark magic is in any of the things I've give you," she said, handing the package to Lily. From somewhere a bell sounded the hour. Petranne sank into a chair at the chime.

"Our time together draws to a close," she said, looking into the fire. Lily did not have time to be surprised at the lady's quickly changing temperament.

"Can't we talk a bit more?" she asked. There was so much more she wanted to ask Petranne Pellinore, dozens of things that had been swirling around in her head since the first of September.

"One last question," Petranne agreed. Lily quickly decided what she wanted to know most.

"The Sorting Hat said that I am your heir," Lily said. "Does that mean we are related?"

"I think if you look hard enough you will find a lineal connection," Petranne said cryptically. Before Lily could demand a real answer, she began to feel tingly and her vision faded.

…..

When Lily awoke she was lying on her side on a rock, looking into a forest. It was eerily dark in the forest, but when she looked towards the sky, it was starting to turn pink with dawn's first light. Lily sat up. Her wand was beside her, set atop the parcel that contained the sapphire pendant. She picked that up, intending to take another look at the tiny fishes, and as she did her wand rolled off of it and fell into a deep gash in the rock.

Dismayed, Lily peered down into the gap. It was deep and narrow, as though someone had put it there with a long stick. She tried to wedge her fingers into the crack, but it got narrower as it got deeper. She was able to get her hand in far enough to touch the end of her wand with the very tip of her finger, but there was no room to bend her fingers or grasp it.

She mourned the loss of the beautiful willow wand she had gotten in Diagon Alley. When James had gone to Hogwarts, Lily begged her mum to take her to get her own wand. She promised to put it on her desk and only look at it, and never try magic before she went to school. She just wanted to have it there to remind her that her turn was coming. Ginny Potter turned her reasoning back on her, telling Lily that it would be her turn soon enough.

A year later, Al went to school and Lily took up her quest once more. This time she focused her attentions on her father, but she had no more success with him. _Fine sight I am_, she thought. _I'm finally at Hogwarts with my own wand and it gets stuck in a stupid rock. _She tried again and again to get it out, but after a quarter of an hour she was forced to give up. She would go back to school, where Professor McGonagall would undoubtedly be waiting to interrogate her about her night. The Headmistress would know how to retrieve her wand.

Reluctantly, Lily set off through the forest, the satchel under one arm. She tried to keep track of where she was going, so that she would be able to find her way back, but this was complicated by the fact that she had no idea which way would take her back to Hogwarts.

She walked for an hour, and then two. Every tree began to look familiar. Her bare feet and legs collected scratches from the low branches and thorns. She was sure she had leaves and moss in her messy braid. She was tired and hungry, and a little nervous. She had heard about the mysterious creatures that lived in this forest. She had no desire to run into any unfriendly acromantulas or centaurs.

When she felt like she could not take another step, she sat down on a log and succumbed to tears. _I didn't ask to be a stupid Pellinore_, she thought. _ I wish I could just be normal. It would be delightful to be asleep in a nice, cozy bed in Gryffindor Tower._

As Lily wallowed in regret and self-pity, she felt the air around her change. Something big had come up behind her. Fear made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She turned slowly to see a huge, hulking wolf. It gave off an air of starvation, and was looking at her in the same way that James looked at a plateful of shepherd's pie.

Heart pounding, Lily backed away slowly, but the wolf was persistent. It lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. She scrambled up and away. The wolf followed her closely. Just when Lily thought the wolf was about to catch her, a large grayish shape broke through the brush. Lily squinted, trying to see what it was. It was a car, pale blue and streaked with dirt.

_Grandpa's flying Ford Anglia!_ she thought. This had to be car that her father and Uncle Ron had flown to school in their second year. Tires squealing, the car stopped close to her and Lily dived in through the open door. The wolf slammed into the door a split second after Lily wrenched it closed. The animal fell to the ground, injured or unconscious. The car sped off.

"Good car," Lily whispered, patting the dashboard affectionately. She felt a bit mental, talking to a car, but it _had_ just saved her life. "Take me back to school, please."

Some time later, the car rolled out of the forest near Hagrid's hut. Hagrid came bursting out at the noise.

"Oi! Who's there?" he asked.

Thanking it one last time, Lily got out of the car. It rumbled away, leaving the dirty, barefoot girl standing there with nothing to do but hold her satchel and gaze at Hagrid.

"Lily! Yer alright?" he asked. He rummaged through one of his pockets and pulled out his wand. Lily could remember the day that her father and Aunt Hermione had finally convinced the Ministry to allow Hagrid to carry a wand. She was five, and they had all gone with Hagrid to see Mr. Ollivander in Diagon Alley.

The memory sent a pang of guilt through Lily, and she looked sadly at Hagrid's carefully polished wand.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"My wand got lost in the forest," she said, feeling very foolish. She had almost told him that her wand got stuck in a rock, but that phrase sounded even more ridiculous.

"That's easy enough ter fix," he said, lifting his own wand. "_Accio Lily's Wand._"

For a few minutes it seemed as though nothing had happened. At last Lily heard a whishing sound, and her wand flew towards Hagrid like a tiny broomstick. He handed it to her, and she felt relief as the wooden handle settled into her palm.

"Thanks, Hagrid," Lily said with a smile.

"Yer welcome. I'm jus' glad tha' yer alright. C'mon, we've got'er go see Professor McGonagall," he said. He lifted his wand again, and a large Patronus lumbered up to the castle before them.

…..

After she had bathed and dressed, Lily told Professor McGonagall what had happened.

As predicted, Professor McGonagall confiscated Lily's sapphire pendant. After a long reflection on her experience, McGonagall then sent Lily down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the first game of the season. It was Ravenclaw against Gryffindor, and Lily got there just in time to see Albus catch the Golden Snitch and win the game.

Sunday was quiet. Lily ate and studied with her cousins, feeling free for the first time in weeks. She hadn't realized how stressful it was to constantly be worried about disappearing. She even remembered to send Grandma Molly a nice birthday letter, telling her and Grandpa Arthur all about her adventure in the enchanted car.

The only stress of the afternoon was the constant attention that she received from her brothers. She knew that they meant well, but James and Albus followed her everywhere. Lunch, the library, the Pellinore common room; wherever she went, they were there. James even followed her into the loo, earning a stern scolding from Professor Vector, who just happened to be passing through the hall when they emerged from the girls' bathroom.

The next Thursday was Halloween. When Lily came up for breakfast there was and unexpected visitor in the Great Hall. A tall, lean young man with turquoise hair stood beside several large crates. His maroon work robes and brightly checkered pants looked out of place among all the black robes of the students, but by the easy grin that lit his face, Lily could tell he felt right at home.

"Teddy!" she cried, running to hug her. Ted Lupin was as much a brother to Lily as James and Albus were, and he usually annoyed her far less. He lived with the Potters and worked at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes while he saved up enough money to buy a place of his own. When Lily was bitterly disappointed that her brothers went off to school without her, Teddy made it his personal mission to cheer her up. He brought her treats from the shop, took her flying at the Burrow, and even let her tag along on some of his dates with his fiance, Victorie.

"Hey there, Lulu," Teddy said. Lily grinned at him. He was the only one who got away with calling her 'Lulu.'

"What are you doing at Hogwarts, Teddy?" she asked. He ruffled her hair.

"George sent me. Halloween is a day of mischief and mayhem, and therefore it's the only day we are allowed to bring deliveries directly to the school."

"Professor McGonagalll doesn't mind?" Lily asked, glancing sidelong at the Headmistress. She was chatting with Professor Malone, a wreath of Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs sparkling around the brim of her hat.

"It was her idea," Teddy said, eyes twinkling. He prodded the nearest crate with his foot. "You know, I was excited when your uncle let me bring the deliveries. I thought it would be fun. I didn't realize that it would take seventeen years to pass out all the orders."

"I'll help," Lily offered immediately.

"Look, worker bees," Teddy mumbled to Lily as he spotted Molly, Louis, and Freddie. "Oi, you lot!" The packages in the crates were sorted by house. Teddy gave one to each of the cousins, grinning and saying, "It's not child labor if you're Weasleys, right?"

Lily helped Teddy by ferrying parcels back and forth down the Gryffindor table. Split up, the work took a relatively short amount of time. When it was time to go to her first class, Lily was reluctant to say goodbye to Teddy. "Don't worry, Lulu. I'll be around until lunch."

"Who was that?" Starletta asked, as they made their way to Herbology.

"Teddy? He's my dad's godson. James calls him our godbrother," Lily explained. "He moved in with us a couple of years ago."

"He's _so_ cute," Starletta said. Emmaline nodded, but Lily wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. "What? Don't you agree?"

"Of course I do, but he's my godbrother," Lily said with a shrug.

…..

True to his word, Teddy was sitting at the Pellinore table with Rose when Lily came into the Great Hall for lunch. He was halfway through his favorite story, about his first Quidditch match.

"I had grown up hearing all about how Harry Potter caught the Golden Snitch in his mouth, and I was trying to copy him. I broke both my arms and one of my legs," Teddy said. "But it was still the best day of my life."

While everyone laughed with Teddy, Lily noticed that Starletta's face was looking both pale and green. "You okay?" she asked. Starletta nodded, but pushed her plate away.

A moment later she was hunched over the side of the table, vomiting magnificently.

"Don't eat the chicken, eh Swift?" Teddy said, chuckling and offering her a handkerchief.

But it didn't seem like a simple food aversion. No sooner had she sat up straight did Starletta lean back down and throw up again. She couldn't stop.

Professor McGonagall, who was passing their table on the way to her own lunch, saw Starletta's prone form and seized a large bowl from the table.

"Miss Potter, please escort Miss Swipt to the infirmary," the Headmistress said,dumping the contents of the bowl on the table. She handed it to Lily, who understood that she was to use it to catch her fellow Pellinore's vomit.

"I don't think she's ill," Rose said. "It came on too quickly." Professor McGonagall's brow creased, a facial expression which Lily had become very familiar with in her short time at Hogwarts. It meant that the Headmistress was worried. Professor McGonagall looked at Teddy.

"Get Gemma," she ordered.

* * *

**AN:** What's this? An update? From me? On this story? Can't be.

I could make of list of all the reasons why I haven't updated sooner, but it would probably be longer than the chapter. All I can say is that losing my computer last year really threw me off on this story. At least when I do update, the chapters are nice and long, right?

I appreciate the people who read and review. Thank you a million times. I'll try not to take as long with the next one (especially since this one is cliffhang-ish).

Ooh- and if anyone reading is on Pottermore, feel free to Friend me. My username is HeartNiffler150. Just PM me on here to let me know where I know you from!


	8. Special Deliveries

**Chapter 8: Special Deliveries**

"I'd feel better making an antidote if I knew whether this was caused by a jinx or a poison," Professor Malone said, a frown appearing on her normally cheerful face. She had come running at the Headmistress's call to assess the situation at the Pellinore table. "What did she eat?"

"I think she had one of those bonbons," Emmaline said, pointing to a small box that sat among the plates and serving trays. Teddy picked up one of the sweets and broke it in half, sniffing it.

"Puking Pastille," he said, showing the professors the orange bit of candy that was at the center of the bonbon. He rummaged through his pockets until he found a sweet, unwrapping it and handing the purple end to Starletta. "Here, eat this," he told her.

Starletta choked down the antidote, and after a few moments the vomiting ceased. "Thank you," she told Teddy, and he threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze.

"Think nothing of it, Doll," Teddy said, moving away. As he did, Starletta looked around at the great hall, taking in all of the faces that were once again turned towards the Pellinore table because of her.

"Everything interesting happens to you," James told her, flashing a grin. "And it's always at mealtimes."

"Maybe I should start selling tickets," Starletta said wryly. Professor Malone patted her on the shoulder.

"I am glad that you are well, Miss Swipt, but I'd like to know who tampered with those cakes," she said.

"So would we all," Professor McGonagall put in.

"That's a pretty mean trick, even for Halloween," Teddy said.

"Lucky you were here, Mr. Lupin," Professor Malone added. "You identified the cause of the problem much faster than we would have been able to on our own. She might have vomited herself dry in the meantime."

Lily glanced over at Professor McGonagall. Her square jaw was set and her eyes were hard. She smiled apologetically at the Pellinores, and then returned to the dais.

"Attention students," she said, magnifying her voice with her wand. "It's a tradition at Hogwarts to keep Halloween as a day of frolicking and mischief. Therefore I normally overlook the minor hexes and pranks that take place among you, just for the one day. However this incident was very dangerous. A girl could have died. I should cancel the evening's feast, but I daresay that wouldn't be fair to the majority of you." Her eyes passed across the Great Hall. It felt as though she looked each and every student in the eye in just a few seconds. "If any of you know anything about this prank, I expect you to come forward."

With that McGonagall resumed her seat and the student's normal chatter began to increase to a normal level. Emmaline turned to Starletta. "Come on. Let's go get you cleaned up before History of Magic." Lily glanced down the table at Taran, who was staring at his plate, eating steadily as though he hadn't noticed the commotion. Rolling her eyes, she turned back to her family and finished her meal.

When lunch was over, Teddy walked Lily to the entrance of the Pellinore common room. "Before I forget, George sent this for you and your friends. It's from his new line," Teddy said, fishing a small orange box out of his pocket. The box was tied shut with a length of bright purple twine. It's shrunk, but the spell is in the knot. I'd wait until you were down in your dorm before you undo it."

"Brilliant," Lily said, pocketing the present. "Thanks, Teddy."

"See you at Christmas, Lulu," Teddy said, flashing her a grin and ruffling her hair before he disappeared down the hall.

Lily didn't think of the box again until after supper that evening. The feast went on for hours, everyone stuffing themselves with delicious pies and cakes. Eventually the students were ushered out of the Great Hall to their beds.

The three Pellinore girls made their way down to their common room. As she and Emmaline collapsed on a couch, Lily felt the box digging into her side.

"Oh yeah!" she said, pulling the box out of her pocket. "I forgot about our gift."

"Gift?" Starletta said, dropping her bag on a chair.

"For all of us?" Emma asked.

"Is it something pretty?" Starletta asked. Lily laughed.

"Yes, for all of us, but it's from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, so it's probably not pretty. If I know my uncle, it's more likely to be slimy or explosive." She paused of a moment, pondering her words, then added, "Or both."

She set the box down in the middle of the floor. "Give it some space," she told her friends. "I don't know how big it will get." Emmaline pulled both of her feet up onto the couch, hugging her knees and looking concerned.

Lily smiled at her, and then gently tugged on the ribbon. It fell apart and the box rapidly grew until it was the size of a small table. All was quiet for a moment, but then the box burst open without warning, showering the common room with purple confetti. Lily let it settle around her, eyeing the box warily. When nothing else happened, she crept closer and peeked inside. The contents of the carton brought a smile to her face.

"It's safe," she said, dropping down to her knees. The first thing she pulled out of the box was a flyer with and advertisement for a new line of products at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Lily read the ad to her friends.

_"Attention Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Pellinores:  
Do you have Hogwarts spirit?  
Get your school supplies, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and items of general tomfoolery to match your favorite  
Hogwartian House, all now for sale at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes!"_

As she finished she noticed that her uncle had scrawled a quick note on the bottom of the page:

_Dear Lily, Here's a little something to get you and your friends started at Hogwarts. Remember to keep smiling. –Uncle George_

Lily set the note aside, delving into the box. It was a sea of purple. Everything was from the Pellinore collection: Quills, chocolate Pellinore crests, sweatshirts, journals, fake wands, throws. All of it was packed into the box between crumpled sheets of newspaper. Lily rationed everything out to her friends. It seemed like Uncle George had sent them each a complete set of items from the new line.

"This is so cool," Emmaline said, holding her new Pellinore hooded sweatshirt against herself.

Starletta smiled as she admired a necklace with a bronze fox charm hanging from it. "Thank your uncle for us, will you?" she asked, tucking the necklace beneath her shirt.

"What do you think I should do with his?" Lily said, nodding towards the pile of stuff that she had set aside for Taran.

"Put it by the door to his dorm?" Emmaline suggested, smoothing out a piece of newspaper and glancing over it with amusement.

"Yeah, maybe he'll trip over it," Starletta said dryly.

"That's not funny," Lily said to her.

"I'm laughing," Starletta replied, but apologetically helped Lily pile Taran's things back in the empty box while Emma gathered up the scattered paper. Together they carried the box and put it beside the door to the boy's dorm, leaving it out of the path of traffic.

"We should get to bed," Lily said reluctantly. She didn't want to spoil the fun evening she was having with her friends, but it was getting awfully late. Starletta nodded, gathering up her stuff.

"Hang on, what's this?" Emmaline said, pointing to a headline on a page from the _Daily Prophet._ Lily wandered over, but her friend was already reading the story aloud.

**THE PELLINORE FOUR by Burton Byres**

"_Student Killed By Unknown Monster"  
"Chamber of Secrets Reopened"  
"Triwizard Tournament Claims Life of Hogwarts Champion"  
"You-Know-Who Gone for Good"_

_ These are just a few of the headlines that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has provided over the years. More recently, Hogwarts has shaken the wizarding world again, this time by adding a new house. This year the Sorting Hat placed four students in a new house: Pellinore._

_ Our source at Hogwarts has identified these students as Emmaline Winkleworth, Taran Suxe, Starletta Swipt, and most notable, Lily Potter, the youngest child of Harry Potter."_

Emmaline stopped reading aloud, her eyes still scanning the article. "They have my whole biography here!" she exclaimed. "All about my parents at their jobs! It even says where they live!"

"Did they do that to all of us?" Starletta asked.

"I think so," Emmaline said. "I only have the first page. At the end of the paragraph about me it says 'continued on page twelve.'" The girls rummaged through the sheets of newspaper, smoothing each one out and checking dates and page numbers. Page twelve was missing.

"How do they know so much about us?" Starletta said with disgust. "Professor McGonagall forbade any unauthorized interviews."

"That won't stop some of the students from corresponding with scum like Burton Byres," Lily said. _And by students, I mean Slytherins,_ she thought, picturing Zachary Tremble, who would surely get a lot of entertainment from telling the newspaper about her traipse through the Forbidden Forest in her pajamas.

"Why can't they just leave us alone?" Starletta whined, sounding close to tears. "We deserve privacy!" Lily knew that she was thinking about her family disowning her. Surely that had been included in the article.

"I wish I could say I was surprised," Lily said. "My family has always been in the spotlight because of my dad. _The Daily Prophet_ is known for this kind of thing. My mom stops it when she can. She must not have known about this."

"So much for having a nice evening," Emmaline said wearily, gathering up her things and heading towards their dormitory. "I'm going to bed."

"I think we should show the article to Professor Longbottom," Starletta said, following her. "At the very least maybe he and the Headmistress can figure out who the source at Hogwarts is and put a stop to it."

"There are hundreds of students here," Lily said.

"Not to mention their families," Emma added. "I know I've written home with stories from school. Bynes's source could be anyone." That thought was disheartening.

Sleep was evasive that night. Lily lay in her bed for hours, just staring at the canopy above her. Eventually she decided to lull herself to sleep with a hot bath. A nice hot soak usually did the trick, especially if she followed it by snuggling into a nice, fluffy pillow.

The bath worked too well. Lily woke up the next morning still lying in the bathtub. The water had long-since turned cold, and her neck muscles were sore from resting on the tub's rim. Feeling irritable, Lily reached over the edge of the tub for her towel.

As she moved to stand up, she let out a yelp. The water had suddenly turned warm. Awed, she ran her hand through the water, just below the surface. Bubbles danced around her fingers. After a moment or two she remembered that she was at a school for magic. The tub must have been charmed.

With the wonder gone from the moment, Lily decided to soak for a few minutes and warm up before she got ready for her day.

The sky outside the enchanted windows of the Pellinore common room was drizzly and dreary. So was Defense Against the Dark Arts class that morning. Continuing his unit on light charms, Professor Grant was now teaching the students counterspells and jinxes that could be used to cause darkness.

Since the beginning of the term, Professor Grant's classes had taken on a pattern. First they would spend a class period reading a passage in the textbook and writing out answers to the questions at the end. In the next couple of classes, Professor Grant would give a lecture, restating and explaining the information from the textbook, and requiring that the students take notes. He would then begin to let the students practice the spell, usually one at a time, but occasionally in small groups. After this, the cycle would begin again.

On this particular day, they were reading. Lily had a hard time keeping her mind on her book. She was happy to escape to Herbology, where the Pellinores were continuing their work with _mimbulus mimbeltonia_. Professor Longbottom greeted them jovially.

"Today is an exciting day," he said, pointing to their planters. "Your _mimbulus mimbeltonia_ plants are finally sprouting."

Lily looked at him disbelievingly. For two months the Pellinores had been watching and waiting for something to happen to the plants. They had watered and fertilized the pots just the day before, and even then they had just looked like pots of dirt. Lily joined her housemates in leaning over the planters. Sure enough, four small sprouts were poking out of the soil. They were all less than an inch tall, except for the one in the bedazzled pot. (Since the _mimbulus mimbeltonia_ was very slow to sprout, Professor Longbottom had let them use some of the extra class time to decorate their planters.) Starletta's plant was almost two inches tall.

"How come hers is so much bigger than the rest of them?" Taran asked.

"The growth rate varies once they pop up," Professor Longbottom said. "But don't worry. Before long they'll all be fat with stinksap."

Taran reached out a finger and gently prodded Starletta's plant. It wiggled, almost happily.

"Aww, he's cute!" Starletta said.

"He?" Professor Longbottom asked amusedly.

"It seemed appropriate," Starletta said. "I'm going to call him 'Mim.'" The rest of the Pellinores looked at Starletta as if she had three eyes.

"What? I like plants. I named all of the plants in my aunt's greenhouse. Besides, plants don't care what house you're in." She said the last part under her breath, but Professor Longbottom seemed to have heard.

"No they don't, Miss Swipt. Five points to Pellinore for everyone's hard work," he said. Starletta beamed.

…..

History of Magic was the same as always. Lily listened for a while, and then nearly fell asleep. However, on that day Professor Binns ended the class by announcing that the Pellinores would be having their first quiz.

"Is there anything that we should pay special attention to while we are studying?" Emmaline asked him.

"While everything I teach is worth paying attention to, Ms. Williams, this particular quiz is focusing on the life and magical abilities of Merlin," Professor Binns told her dryly.

"I think it was right cruel of him to give us a quiz to study for this weekend," Starletta complained. "It's Quidditch tomorrow."

"We can all study together this afternoon and on Sunday," Emmaline said. Lily nodded her agreement, knowing she'd need the help.

They reviewed all afternoon. By the time supper rolled around, Lily was quite sick of Merlin. She was happy to be abducted by her brothers. They forced her to sit at the Gryffindor table and discuss the chances that Hufflepuff would completely smash Slytherin in the next day's match. Emmaline and Starletta opted to stay at the Pellinore table to keep going over their notes. Lily felt that her head was positively stuffed. The sports talk was quite refreshing.

Towards the end of the meal, Lily glanced back at her own house's table. She wasn't sure what had drawn her gaze, but she was surprised by the sight that awaited her. Taran had sat down in her normal spot next to Emma. The three of them had _A_ _History of Magic_ open in the center of the table and they looked to be taking turns quizzing each other. Emmaline looked up for a moment, probably feeling Lily's eyes on her. She smiled vaguely, shrugging at Taran.

Lily returned to her family's talk, sure that the world was turning on its head.

…..

The next morning Lily donned jeans and a purple hooded-jacket that had arrived in the box from her Uncle George. It was chilly outside, but it hadn't yet grown cold enough to need scarves and mittens.

_I'll save those for later on, _Lily thought, closing her trunk. She found her housemates in the common room, dressed in similar outfits to her own. Taran was nowhere to be seen. The boy's association with them seemed to be limited to studying.

"All set?" Lily asked her friends.

"Yep," Emmaline said, tying the laces to the purple sneakers that matched her new sweatshirt. Her ponytail was held in place with a matching ribbon. Starletta's Pellinore sweater was paired with jean shorts and purple leggings. She also wore the fox pendant necklace that she had admired when they opened the box from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"We look cute," Starletta said. "Too bad Pellinore doesn't have a team."

After breakfast, the girls joined the large throng of students as they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch.

"Where are we sitting?" Starletta asked.

"We have choices. Professor McGonagall said we could sit by the staff and my cousin Molly invited us to sit by the rest of the Weasley-Potters in the Gryffindor stands," Lily told her. "I vote for the second choice."

"Me too," Emma agreed. A moment later she looked apologetically at Starletta. "Unless you wanted to cheer for your brother?"

Starletta kept her face blank, a practice she had adopted whenever someone mentioned her family.

"No, it's fine," she said. "Lily's brothers are nicer to me than my brother is. Let's sit with the Gryffindors."

The three climbed up into the stands, joining Lily's cousins and brothers. Rose and Emmaline began talking about some Muggle novel they had read in common, and Starletta was drawn into conversation with Louis and Dominique. That left Lily sandwiched between James and Molly.

"Who do you think will win?" Lily asked Molly.

"Slytherin. They have a very strong team this season," Molly told her.

"Hufflepuff has Macmillan though. She's the best seeker, after Albus," James put in.

"Yes, but she won't touch the snitch in this match," Molly said. "Malfoy is a strong seeker as well, and Slytherin's beaters are a pair to be contended with."

"Hughley is a dumb as a sack of gobstones and Redding couldn't hit dirt if he fell off a hippogriff," James said. "I think Hufflepuff has more of a shot than you're giving them."

"They were second for the cup last year, weren't they?" Lily asked.

"Yep. Needle is a good captain," James told her.

"I'd agree with you if all but their keeper hadn't graduated last year. They didn't plan for the future of the team, and now they only have one returning player. It makes it a little hard to maintain the team. Ellington had to train six inexperienced squad members. While he's done a mighty fine job of it, you can't expect miracles."

James just shrugged. "We'll see."

Lily grinned at her family before turning towards the pitch and the starting match.

Slytherin flattened Hufflepuff.

After the match Lily and her friends joined her cousins, headed towards the lake for a picnic lunch.

"Letty!" someone called. Starletta turned, looking back. One of the Slytherin players was chasing after them, still in his quidditch robes. When he got closer, Lily recognized the face of Scorpius Malfoy. Lily waved the rest of her group onward, motioning that she would wait for Starletta. Emmaline stayed anyways.

"What do you want, Scorpius?" Starletta asked coldly.

"Mum asked me to give this to you," the older boy said, holding out a folded letter. "She said you never answered the other owls that she sent her."

"I didn't ever read them," Starletta admitted. "I've had enough of messages telling me how disappointed the family is in me."

"This isn't one of those, I promise," Scorpius said. "Just read it."

Starletta eyed the parchment warily before opening it. For a moment her eyes betrayed none of her emotions, but then she looked confused. She looked up at Scorpius. "Is this for real?" she asked him.

"Of course it is. You know my mum," he replied. Suddenly Starletta's face broke out into a huge grin and she threw her arms around Scorpius.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried.

"So I should let Mum know you accept," Scorpius said with a grin.

"I'll write her myself," Starletta said as she released him.

"Oi, Scorpius!" yelled a voice from the quidditch pitch. "Ain't 'ya gonna shower? The victory party'll start cain't start without yeh!"

Scor grinned. "See you later, eh little cousin?" he said, tugging on her braid. Lily smiled at the gesture. It was so familiar. James did it to her all the time. Then her brain processed what she had just heard.

"Scorpius Malfoy is your cousin?" she asked, watching him jog back down the path. Starletta nodded, looking back at her letter adoringly.

"Our mothers are sisters," she said. "My Aunt Astoria invited me to stay with them for Christmas and the summer holiday."

"That's awesome," Emmaline said. "My mum and dad said that I could bring you home with me, but I was hoping that your family would come to their senses before then."

"They won't, and that's okay. Some of my family still cares." Starletta smiled and turned towards the lake, skipping happily down the path.

* * *

**AN:** I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated. It feels like it has only been a month or two. Apologies to the readers, and if you're going to stick with it, thank you very much. I'm working on the next chapter, hopefully it will be up much more quickly than the last one. :D


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